Love, Violet
Love, Violet is a children's picture book written by Charlotte Sullivan Wild and illustrated by Charlene Chua. It tells the love story of a girl named Violet, who is too shy to say how she feels to her classmate, Mira. The book was published on November 16, 2021, by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Background. Charlotte Sullivan Wild grew up in a religious setting in which being queer was seen as a negative, which lead to her coming out only later in life, as an adult. In addition, most fairy tales she knew as a kid were heteronormative . These experiences served as inspiration to create a book for children that embraced love between queer people and people of color. Another aspect from Sullivan Wild's life introduced into the narrative was the lack of a specific label for the girls of the book, which reflects how the author saw herself when she first came out. During the production of "Love, Violet", Chua consulted the art director responsible for the book and they decided to present Violet as white due to her personal connection to Sullivan Wild. While Violet and Mira initially had a more feminine design due to  Chua's experience as a student in an all-girls school, Violet's design was slightly altered later on to be more butch. Reception. "Kirkus Reviews" praised Sullivan Wild's writing and Chua's illustrations, noting the two elements captured the emotions felt by the characters, and were able to convey the action and movement of the story. They called the story a "gentle, child-friendly romance" and "a perfect celebration of courage and queerness". "Publishers Weekly"s reviewer called the picture book a "uplifting wintry tale", and wrote positively about the art. Both "Kirkus" and "PW" gave the book starred  reviews. Reviewing for the "School Library Journal", Amy Fellows wrote about how "[a] soothing color palette enhances the story's quiet and lighthearted tone". Fellows also commented on the various depiction of emotions by characters in the background as a learning opportunity for young readers. Fellows concluded by noting "Love, Violet" "fills an important need for non-heteronormative representation" among picture books. "Love, Violet" was nominated for the 34th Lambda Literary Awards in the Children's/Middle Grade category.