Alice Austen Lived Here

- Blurb -

From award-winning author Alex Gino comes a groundbreaking novel for children about how important the past can be those trying to create a different future. Sam is very in touch with their own queer identity. They' re nonbinary, and their best friend, TJ, is nonbinary as well. Sam' s family is very cool with it . . . as long as Sam remembers that nonbinary kids are also required to clean their rooms, do their homework, and try not to antagonize their teachers too much. The teacher-respect thing is hard when it comes to Sam' s history class, because their teacher seems to believe that only Dead Straight Cis White Men are responsible for history. When Sam' s home borough of Staten Island opens up a contest for a new statue, Sam finds the perfect non-DSCWM subject: photographer Alice Austen, whose house has been turned into a museum, and who lived with a female partner for decades. Soon, Sam' s project isn' t just about winning the contest. It' s about discovering a rich queer history that Sam' s a part of - a queer history that no longer needs to be quiet, as long as there are kids like Sam and TJ to stand up for it.