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Picture Books Featuring Lesbian and Gay Parents
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From: Megan Schliesman <schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu>
Date: Fri, 07 May 2010 09:08:58 -0500
It's time to begin our discussion for the first part of May: Heather at Twenty: Picture Books Featuring Lesbian and Gay Parents. (During the second half of the month, we'll look again at gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning characters in books for older readers) .
When "Heather Has Two Mommies" by Leslйa Newman was originally published
by Alyson Wonderland Books in 1989, it was the first picture book with high national visibility showing a child in a family with same-sex parents. Now, more than twenty years later, w the number of widely available picture books showing lesbian- and gay-parented families is still extraordinarily small.
We'dl like to reflect on where publishing has been and where we hope it goes when it comes to embracing this aspect of family diversity.
I'll begin by giving a shout-out to two recent books by Leslйa Newman, "Mommy, Mama, and Me" and "Daddy, Papa, and Me." This wonderful pair of board books offer warm looks at the lives of two young toddlers. “Daddy
helps me paint the sky. Papa helps me bake a pie.” “Mommy picks **me up , up up. Mama pours juice in my cup.” The rhyming text in each book highlights everyday activities the children share with their parents, whether they are playing music at home (“strum, strum, strum!... drum, drum, drum!”) or are on a romp at the park (“go round and round… slid e to the ground”). One of the children lives with two moms, the other with
two dads. Both are, simply, at the center of two loving families.
I love that these child-centered texts aren't pointed or didactic. To me, they are a perfect example of what I hope to see more of in the future--picture books for young children in which the fact that a character lives in a family with two moms or two dads is not the point of the story--no need to explain or defend what simply is.
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison 600 N. Park Street, Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706
608/262-9503 schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu
www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
Received on Fri 07 May 2010 09:08:58 AM CDT
Date: Fri, 07 May 2010 09:08:58 -0500
It's time to begin our discussion for the first part of May: Heather at Twenty: Picture Books Featuring Lesbian and Gay Parents. (During the second half of the month, we'll look again at gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning characters in books for older readers) .
When "Heather Has Two Mommies" by Leslйa Newman was originally published
by Alyson Wonderland Books in 1989, it was the first picture book with high national visibility showing a child in a family with same-sex parents. Now, more than twenty years later, w the number of widely available picture books showing lesbian- and gay-parented families is still extraordinarily small.
We'dl like to reflect on where publishing has been and where we hope it goes when it comes to embracing this aspect of family diversity.
I'll begin by giving a shout-out to two recent books by Leslйa Newman, "Mommy, Mama, and Me" and "Daddy, Papa, and Me." This wonderful pair of board books offer warm looks at the lives of two young toddlers. “Daddy
helps me paint the sky. Papa helps me bake a pie.” “Mommy picks **me up , up up. Mama pours juice in my cup.” The rhyming text in each book highlights everyday activities the children share with their parents, whether they are playing music at home (“strum, strum, strum!... drum, drum, drum!”) or are on a romp at the park (“go round and round… slid e to the ground”). One of the children lives with two moms, the other with
two dads. Both are, simply, at the center of two loving families.
I love that these child-centered texts aren't pointed or didactic. To me, they are a perfect example of what I hope to see more of in the future--picture books for young children in which the fact that a character lives in a family with two moms or two dads is not the point of the story--no need to explain or defend what simply is.
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison 600 N. Park Street, Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706
608/262-9503 schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu
www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
Received on Fri 07 May 2010 09:08:58 AM CDT
