#just absolutely tickled that the book was queerer than i remember!

[frankenmouse]

I’m rereading some childhood favorite books and just finished Aliens Ate My Homework by Bruce Coville.

I am absolutely delighted and astonished to find that there is a same sex “bonded” partnership between two of the main characters that I never picked up on as a kiddo. The characters share a private room, are noted to be “bonded” mentally, and show significantly greater concern for each other than with their other coworkers. It’s absolutely so subtle it could be missed, but this was a kid’s book published in 1993!

When I did a little searching, I found that Coville has since come out as bisexual, so I have no doubts that this was fully intentional.

The same book also has an alien character that prefers “it” pronouns because it is neither male nor female, but a third gender, with the implication that the gender identities among its species are significantly more nuanced than a male/female binary.

What a wonderful thing to discover about one of my favorite childhood books and authors! Sometimes you revisit things to find that they’ve aged like sour milk (looking at you Secret of Dragonhome), but every once in a while things genuinely were as good, (if not better!) as you thought they were.