This week I got to share the beautiful cover of LIKE A MOTHER BEAR, illustrated by J Yang.

Isn’t it beautiful? All of the details that J included make my heart sing!

Researching this book at The New York Public Library Manuscript and Archives Division was an amazing experience. One highlight was getting to hold Jeanne’s sign— the one she carried while marching with her son Morty in the 1972 March, when the idea for PFLAG was born! A piece of history!

Reading so many letters written to Jeanne in the Archive— from parents, caring family members, and LGBTQ+ young people—was incredibly moving. Many were seeking advice from a mentor, a mother figure, a friend. And Jeanne answered.  You’ll read snippets and excerpts of those letters in LIKE A MOTHER BEAR, as prescient today as they were 50+ years ago. In an era when info about queer identities and rights were hard to find, Jeanne was there.

LIKE A MOTHER BEAR (March 2027, Atheneum/Simon & Schuster) is available for pre-order wherever books are sold— or use the link here to order from my local independent bookstore, The Brewster Bookstore on Cape Cod!