Mini Mia and her Darling Uncle by Pija Lindenbaum

I'll be giving a talk on queer role models in children's picture books later this week as part of the InsideOUT speakers series at the University of Alberta. I'm looking forward to talking about some of my favourite books, like Pija Lindenbaum's Mini Mia and her Darling Uncle. The story has been translated to English from its original Swedish. It's narrated in first person by Ella, a preschooler who is such a fan of soccer that she gets called Mini Mia, after the soccer player Mia Hamm. Tommy, Mini Mia's favourite uncle, causes her much dismay when he shows up with a boyfriend. Fergus tags along wherever they go and really gets on Mini Mia's nerves. ("Doesn't he have a home to go to? Apparently not.") Her jealousy makes her extremely naughty and finally so unhappy that she takes to her bed. ("Now no one is allowed to talk to me and I don't want any dinner -- just a little bit of jam. I'm never going to hang out with Tommy again. I'm just going to lie here bored stiff. Forever.") But Tommy doesn't give up on her and, in the end, it turns out that Fergus is much better at soccer than Tommy.

I've blogged previously about some of the other books I'll be showcasing, including Christian the Hugging Lion, In Our Mothers' House, Gertrude Is Gertrude Is Gertrude Is Gertrude, Pink, and The Odd Egg, The full list of titles I'll be talking about is here.

The talk is at 5 pm in room 7-152 Education North on Thursday, December 1, 2011. Full details available at the website for the Institute of Sexual Minority Studies and Services. It's open to the public; I hope to see some of you there.