Wikipedia:Today's featured article/April 26, 2023

When Megan Went Away is a 1979 children's picture book written by Jane Severance (pictured) and illustrated by Tea Schook. The book, featuring lesbian parents, was the first picture book to include any LGBT characters. Published by Lollipop Power, an American independent press, the book depicts a child named Shannon dealing with the separation of her mother and her mother's partner, Megan. As a lesbian working in a feminist bookstore in Denver in her early twenties, Severance sought to rectify the lack of picture book content for children with lesbian parents in her community. When Megan Went Away was not widely distributed upon publication, although the text of the story was republished by the magazine Ms. in 1986 under the pen name R. Minta Day. The work proved divisive among critics. Some praised the story for being an anti-sexist example of lesbian life. Others found its depiction of same-sex separation poorly timed, arriving at a moment when lesbian motherhood was on the rise.