Reading for pleasure: Young people need stories that celebrate difference

Children’s author Eric Huang reflects on reading for pleasure, inclusion, and the need for all young people to see themselves reflected in stories.

Eric’s book Celebrations and Festivals: Pride is featured on Just Like Us’ 2025 reading list. Reading lists for primary and secondary schools, alongside hundreds of other free, LGBT+ inclusive resources, can be found on the Just Like Us resource portal – sign up now.

With back to school season in full swing, I find myself reminiscing about Pride Month. The sun is shining and rainbows appear across the country. Messages of Pride brighten buses and billboards. Pride flags fly atop buildings. And in bookshop windows, a spectrum of LGBT+ books gleams with glitter and foil. Among them is Celebrations and Festivals: Pride, a picture book that introduces young readers to the origins of Pride Month through the eyes of Brian, a boy preparing for his local Pride parade. As Brian tries to figure out what to wear, he explores what Pride means and uncovers not only history, but also the freedom to be himself.

Books like this didn’t exist when I was growing up. In the 1980s, there were no rainbow displays in mainstream bookshops. Although children’s books with overt LGBT+ themes were virtually non-existent, I still found stories that resonated with me. I saw myself reflected in Max from Where the Wild Things Are, who finds acceptance—and becomes king!—in a world inhabited by wild things. I embraced the sci-fi and fantasy worlds of X-Men comics and Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern novels in which outsiders were heroes. Books reassured me that being different was okay, preferable, in fact!

“Every child deserves stories that celebrate who they are” — Eric Huang

Today, books that openly celebrate LGBT+ identities like Celebrations and Festivals: Pride proliferate and top best-seller charts. Yet access to these books in schools remains an issue. A 2022 survey by Just Like Us found that only 12% of LGBT+ parents said their child’s school provided LGBT+ inclusive books. This is worrying because representation in literature isn’t just about visibility. It’s about validation. We exist!

The benefits of inclusive reading go far beyond identity affirmation. Research consistently shows that reading for pleasure is linked to improved mental health and academic success. A 2023 study conducted in the UK and China found that reading for pleasure significantly enhances cognition, emotional well-being, and even brain structure. Additionally, Empathy Lab has found that when children read books, they develop the skills to empathise with characters and the dilemmas they face in stories. In short, young people who grow up with a love of reading are far more likely to become happy, kind, successful adults.

According to the National Literacy Trust’s June 2025 survey, 37.1% of young people said they were drawn to books that reflected their hobbies or identities. If we want to engender a love of reading in young people, we must make available books that match their interests and experiences. When LGBT+ students have access to LGBT+ inclusive books, they’re more likely to appreciate reading, then become those happy, kind, successful adults! And, whether readers identify as LGBT+ or not, inclusive books offer every reader an opportunity to experience someone else’s struggles, journeys, and joy.

This is why books like Celebrations and Festivals: Pride are so important. They don’t just teach young readers about LGBT+ history, they invite them to celebrate it. Through Brian’s story, readers experience the excitement of Pride month and the warmth of community. They’re reminded that being different isn’t something to hide — it’s something to dance about, to dress up for, and to share with others. Every child deserves stories that celebrate who they are. Every child deserves books that introduce them to a diversity of new perspectives. And every school should be a place where LGBT+ inclusive stories have pride of place on the shelf.

Download LGBT+ inclusive reading lists and much more on Just Like Us’ resource portal.