Catherine Weller's blog

Lila Nelson Weller, our matriarch and the rock of our store, died this morning. She was 105.

Weller Book Works still requires all employees and customers to wear face masks covering their noses and mouths, whether vaccinated or not.

This for two reasons: First, we are not able to reliably verify customers' immunization status. Additionally, not of our employees are fully immunized. We cannot in good conscience put their health at risk. We will revisit mask requirements when all Weller Book Works workers are fully immunized.

If I described a world in lockdown due to a deadly virus and the majority of people unable to be tested, as well as impending economic doom and a recent earthquake to boot, you might think I’m describing a low-budget apocalypse movie starring Nicholas Cage. 

But, you know as well as I do that this is real life. 

Until very recently, LGBTQ+ narratives have been slyly coded in literature rather than joyously explored, particularly in children's books. Finally, our and our queer forebearers' efforts have come to fruition.

I'm so pleased to be discovering such a bulk and variety of queer books for kids, books that explore the intersectionalities and multiplicity of identity, that feature developed queer kid characters as well as queer adults, and that include not only gay but also gender-queer persons.