Queer Ducks (and Other Animals) by Eliot Schrefer

Claims that queer behaviour is unnatural are eschewed in this book and instead proven wrong with insightful research and riveting interviews with specialists (who are mostly part of the LGTBQ+ community themselves!) in the field that I hope will help its audience understand just how perfectly okay it is to be queer. Schrefer manages to offer readers subtle validation and hope while talking about how normal it is to be queer – both as an animal and as a human (yes, we are also animals but you get the point) living in the 21 st century. What I love most though about Queer Ducks is its message to us humans who belong to the LGBTQ+ community: queerness has always existed, even in the world of animals, even when it has been pushed under the rug, hidden from the public eye or been explained away. Instead, Schrefer offers readers a witty, humorous and thought-provoking exploration of the very not unnatural but totally normal queer behaviour of animals throughout history. If you’re hesitant to pick this up because you think nonfiction can be dry sometimes, rest assured: none of that dreariness resides between these pages. There are also fun cartoons and sweet drawings that make this nonfiction feel almost interactive. Schrefer almost holds a conversation with the reader throughout presenting the scientific evidence of queer behaviour in animals-and added to that, there are little intermissions between the chapters in which the reader gets to learn more about Schrefer himself through biographical stories, fun anecdotes and just general wonderments that make you think about how you see the world through a very biased lens based on what you’ve learned in school (and life so far) in terms of heteronormativity. What makes Queer Ducks such a charming read is, of course, its author. Did this book have me at the first chapter about queer penguins? Indeed, it did! Queer Ducks is a well-researched nonfiction novel about the exploration of queer behaviour in the animal kingdom.

Queer Ducks (and Other Animals) by Eliot Schrefer