While there is a growing body of literature on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender concerns for secondary and tertiary educators, no text exists that encompasses these issues for their elementary counterparts.<P>Queering Elementary Education assembles a range of writers from diverse backgrounds and geographies to examine five broadly defined areas: foundational issues; social and sexual development; curriculum; the family; and gay/lesbian educators and their allies. The volume provides scholarly insights, pedagogical strategies, and curricular resources for use in public elementary schools.<P>Queering Elementary Education will be of particular interest to teacher educators who integrate issues of multiculturalism and sexuality into the curriculum as mandated by professional organizations and accrediting agencies. It will also be of interest to scholars, particularly within the social science fields and education.

Contributors offer both theoretical constructs and practical advice to those who believe that schools should actively foster the values of justice. Some topics explored are children's sexual and social development, curriculum, family, and educators and their allies. Letts is a former science teacher and a doctoral candidate in science education at the University of Delaware. Sears is an independent scholar who has served on the editorial boards of journals related to homosexuality and education.
Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Includes bibliographical references (p. 263-275) and index.

1. Foundational issues. Teaching queerly : some elementary proposals / James T. Sears — Why discuss sexuality in elementary school? / Kathy Bickmore — Pestalozzi, perversity, and the pedagogy of love / Lisa Weems. 2. Children's sexual and social development. Stonewall in the housekeeping area : gay and lesbian issues in the early childhood classroom / Betsy J. Cahill and Rachel Theilheimer — Forbidden fruit : Black males' constructions of transgressive sexualities in middle school / James Earl Davis — Reading queer Asian American masculinities and sexualities in elementary school / Kevin K. Kumashiro — "My moving days" : a child's negotiation of multiple lifeworlds in relation to gender, ethnicity, and sexuality / Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli — What happens when the kids grow up? : the long-term impact of an openly gay teacher on eight students' lives / Eric Rofes. 3. Curriculum. How to make "boys" and "girls" in the classroom : the heteronormative nature of elementary-school science / William J. Letts IV — Using music to teach against homophobia / Mara Sapon-Shevin — Locating a place for gay and lesbian themes in elementary reading, writing, and talking / James R. King and Jenifer Jasinski Schneider — "It's okay to be gay" : interrupting straight thinking in the English classroom / Wayne Martino — How teachers understand gay and lesbian content in the elementary social studies curriculum / Kevin P. Colleary.