I thought this small book was such a great mini biography about 53 people who are/were gay, transgender, esbian, transgender, bisexual and intersex people. Even though this was short I loved how it focused on famous people throughout history. Some being entertainers and others artists. There were even few people I didn't know about and would want to read more about them. Plus the art style is stunning. Love all the colors.

[The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

What I liked:
- All the beautiful illustrations!
- The glossary at the end was helpful and informative.
- I learned a lot about queer history.

What I didn't like:
- The e-book was a bit hard to read.
- I wish there was more about asexual and nonbinary people. The terms should at least be mentioned in the glossary.

I would recommend this book to people who are new to the queer community and/or who want to learn more about queer history.

I was so excited for this book! A whole book filled with LGBTQ+ people everyone could look up to, with inspiring stories. Except.. it wasn't really inclusive. It's LGBT alright. .But that's not everyone in the LGBTQ+ world. I get that these heroes are famous and therefore known to a lot of people, but it would have been so incredibly cool if there were semi famous people that are for instance asexual.

What I did like is that there is a good representation of pocs, so that's a plus at least. But for the love of god update the glossary to include all terms. Just because you don't inlcude non-binary or asexual people in your book, doesn't mean the terms don't exist.

This collection was just 'okay' overall. The artwork is bright and captivating, but I don't think the writing of the bios did anything special. The creators did a great job of including a geographically and ethnically diverse range of people (though no indigenous representation). The queer representation could have been a lot better, unfortunately-- why include people like Da Vinci and Michelangelo who have unconfirmed sexualities when you could have instead included a confirmed asexual, two-spirit, pansexual, or non-binary person instead? There is plenty of acknowledgement of bisexuality, though, which is fantastic.

Out of the 53 heroes mentioned: 22 are POC, 2 are disabled, 25 are women, 32 are non-American, and 7 are transgender (1 trans man, 6 trans women (one of whom is mentioned to have been intersex as well)).

Bright. Bold. Vivid. Strong. This book was beautiful and I loved reading about all of the “Queer heros” past and present. Can I first point out that the use of “Queeros” should be totally acceptable here. So many incredible people who’s truth has emboldened others in the LGBTQIA community to live their own truth.

The style of illustrations is really fun. I love how we get bios on each of the people in the book as well as their contributions to the LGBTQIA community.

*Disclaimer: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.


There have been numerous books over the last few years that are a compilation of 'top 50 women' with short biographies and beautiful illustrations. I was so happy to see that this book focused on queer figures and couldn't wait to pick it up!

From Sappho to Kristen Stewart, this book covers gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual and intersex people, many of which I had never heard of. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful.

Overall I would highly recommend this book and think that there was a good mix of representation. The only thing I would improve on is the length of the biographies as they were quite limited.

4 out of 5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy.

This is such a beautiful book, the art and the colors in this book are amazing. This is definitely a book I wish I would've been able to read as a child and will definitely consider reading to my future children. Even as a part of the lgbt community I only knew about maybe a handful of the people in this book so it was a very educational and interesting read. It was very easy to read and perfect to read for kids and educating them on the subject.
There was a pretty good variation of people although I wish they would’ve included maybe some more sexuality’s other than just gay, bi and trans, also would’ve loved if they included non binary people.
Other than that it was really good and I’m very happy I’ve read it.

An absolutely stunning celebration of 53 incredibly inspirational LGBTQ+ role models who have shown extraordinary changes and contributions to today's and yesterday's culture. Throughout history and from around the world, Sicardi writes short yet sincere biographic tales of courage, triumph and determination, from the legendary Frida Kahlo, to Freddie Mercury's outstanding contribution to music, and James Baldwin’s best-selling written works.

That being said, is it bad that I wanted more? We had the L and the G, a bit of the B and the T, but where's the Q and the +? Queer Heroes could've gone above and beyond in celebrating this rich and diverse community but fell somewhat short in capturing that all inclusive representation.

Nevertheless, this is an exceptional book in introducing young readers to a wealth of unforgettable icons and the beautifully, bold illustrations by Sarah Tanat-Jones bring it to a whole new level.

Maybe there’ll be a Queer Heroes 2...?

I absolutely loved this book that I got a chance to read on netgalley. I loved all the history of each icon in the book and information that I never knew so it was an educational read also. The colours and illustrations throughout this book was amazing. I would highly recommend this book.

The back with word definitions was a really big plus.

I loked the stories and the art was beautiful an fun as well. A good introduction to the LGBTQ+ community for children.

**I received a copy of this book from on Netgalley from the publisher, in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own.**

The art in the book was absolutely beautiful. The colors were so vibrant, which is part of the reason I was drawn to it.
I think that the representation in this book was done okay. I can't say it was great because there were to many parts of the LGBTQ+ that were missing. There was no mention of non-binary, asexual, or, intersex individuals. It was more like a LGBT instead of an LGBTQ+ book.
I still think this books was informative though. It showed the struggles of individuals who are LGBT and how they overcame it and how they helped others. I'd definitely recommend this book.

The publisher, Quarto Publishing Group - Wide Eyed Editions, kindly offered me a reader copy (RC) of Queer Heroes:Meet 53 LGBTQ Heroes From Past and Present! by Arabelle Sicardi via NetGalley. Yet, this is an honest review of the book expressing my unbiased opinion.

I loved this book! The illustrations are stunning and very captivating. The short biographies are objective and well-researched, offering the appropriate kind and amount of information. I found this book extremely meaningful and informative as I learned a lot. I truly believe this book should be in the curriculum and every school library in the world. We need more LGBTQ+ education and knowledge, and this book could be the first step into that.

LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this. I'll be getting it in physical format, too. It's that precious. Don't hesitate to get it! You won't regret it.

5 stars – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Author: Arabelle Sicardi
Illustrator: Sarah Tanat-Jones
Publisher: Quarto Publishing Group - Wide Eyed Editions

“Queer Heroes” is a visually appealing, well written introduction to many LGBTQ+ icons. The little blurbs for each individual provide a nice overview of their life and impact on the LGBTQ+ community. A wealth of ethnicities and nationalities are represented making this a great overview of LGBTQ+ politics the world over. The illustrations are vivid and the format makes this a book you can binge read, then come back to time and time again.

I would love to see more titles like this produced, with an increase in representation for additional identities within the LGBTQ+ community. As someone striving to create an inclusive and welcoming Teen/Tween collection at our small library, this book offers a great jumping off point for young readers with an interest in LGBTQ+ history and leaders. I will definitely be requesting this for purchase at my library as a great addition to our Teen/Tween Non-Fiction collection.

I love reading collected biographies like this, and as someone who is part of the queer community and holds a deep love for others who are, I was very eager to read Queer Heroes. While it did have some positive points, I confess myself disappointed.

First, the positives. The art is genuinely pretty fabulous throughout. While stylized and colourful, everyone was still completely identifiable as themselves and it was a pleasure to look at. It makes for a good upper middle grade or lower young adult piece of nonfiction in the sense that the writing style is accessible, easy to understand, and not overwhelming, without ever feeling condescending. I deeply appreciated the author's dedication to featuring people from a broad variety of geographic and ethnic backgrounds, especially since it can be easy for these types of books to fall into the trap of centring Americans and Europeans, especially white people.

Now for the negatives. I wish more of the LGBTQ+ community had actually been presented is probably my number one complaint here. Almost everyone featured was gay, lesbian, or bisexual. There were a handful of trans people, but primarily trans women (only one trans man in the entire book) and no trans people outside the gender binary. While the concept of nonbinary and agender people seems to be acknowledged, none are actually represented. There were no asexual or aromantic people. There were no two-spirit people. One person was mentioned as having probably been intersex, but no other intersex people were featured. Very few of the people featured were from outside of modern history, with the trans history not going back very far at any point (I know multiple historic figures who were trans or probably trans just offhand than what was featured here without trying to think about it, and "probably" was good enough for multiple gay men featured). Most of the gay, lesbian, and bisexual people featured had fleshed out biographies that included details about their lives and careers outside of their sexuality, unless they've made a name for themselves solely through their activism, but trans people featured were largely only mentioned for their transness and their activism, even if that isn't what they're best known for. The book didn't feature anyone from an Indigenous group in North, Central, or South America, or Australia.

The book also wasn't really organised in a cohesive way. There didn't seem to be rhyme or reason to the order the biographies were presented. There was also the issue of the date format changing back and forth throughout the entire book (switching from December 6 to 6 December and back again).

I wanted to love Queer Heroes. I'm so glad that we're seeing more of this type of book, and that we're seeing it more frequently. This just ended up being very much not what I had hoped for. I think in helping kids normalise LGBTQ+ folks, this book is a start, but it doesn't go nearly far enough. I think some kids will find solace in seeing others like them featured here, but I feel especially sad thinking of the kids who won't see themselves represented here because they're asexual or nonbinary or two-spirit or intersex a trans man (who didn't relate to the literally one trans man featured here). I think this might be a helpful book for those looking to dip their toes in the water of queer history, but I would hesitate to recommend it for its flaws, especially since I wouldn't want to recommend it as a solo read.

actual rating: 3.5

This book was absolutely gorgeous and had several people I had not heard of before, although it also featured many of the people you would expect in a book like this. I think it was a little bit bare bones but it is meant for children so I get that they wanted to keep things simple and also focus more heavily on the design element. I also think they did a good job with featuring a lot of POC. Unfortunately there weren't any people who were ace or genderfluid or really any identities outside of the basic 'LGBT' part of the LGBTQ they advertise in the title. This is not surprising to me at this point but as an ace person myself I'm getting kind of sick of it. I think it's a good starter book but definitely needs some supplemental material to cover the identities not mentioned here.

Cool to know trivia about queer people standing up for themselves and for others. And the art (by Sarah Tanat-Jones) is just out of control 😍😍

Thank you for the review copy.

What a gorgeous book ! Perfect for a coffee table book !

I think this book situated itself right in the middle of informational to make me interested. It gave me some good informations and made me want to reach somewhere else for more for so many persons represented.

From what I know of the subject (somewhat limited) this seemed to cover key people from the community. I was super glad to find some less known queer people here too and some from other period of time. However, I must point out that many group were not very represented. Sadly, this is a critique that is generalized for most of LGBTQ+ books is seems. It's hard to include all perspectives, but there's still much more to be done, so we must keep working at it to be as inclusive as possible.

Now I kinda need to buy a physical copy !

I loved this! The illustrations and information were wonderful. I am a little disappointed that this featured more modern queer heroes than historical figures. This is more my personal preference, I love learning about Queer history and was hoping this book would introduce me to more historical figures but I only learned of maybe 3. Overall a solid queer book with excellent artwork and information.

All in all, it's an interesting addition to the genre, with some lovely artwork, but I feel like more effort and research should've been put into this book. The profiles only briefly mention people's achievements, without really explaining their importance or the impact they had on our society. I also agree with other reviewers that the LGBTQ+ representation shouldn't have been limited to only LGBT.

3 stars instead of 4 because mentioning "communist" as an achievement and a good thing is—and I cannot stress this enough—beyond disgusting. Stop glorifying oppressive thieving mass-murdering totalitarian regimes.

I want to start this off by saying I think this is a great book for teenagers to dive into. Not only is the art absolutely fantastic, but it really does introduce a wide variety of individuals throughout history (some of which, I am ashamed to admit, I had never heard of). That being said, I think this novel focused heavily on the LGB and not so much on the wide variety of identities shared under the LGBT+ umbrella (for example, there is no nonbinary or asexual representation). Additionally, focusing on the layout of the novel, the way biographies are set up is a little all over the place. I think the novel would have worked best if they really moved through history and started with Sappho or Leonardo Da Vinci rather than Freddie Mercury. I could not find a cohesive understanding of the novel's layout and it felt messy to me. I still recommend this as it is a novel speaking on diverse and international members of the queer community, but I would keep the representation in mind when picking it up