A few weeks ago I ran into a friend of mine at the local public library and spent some time talking to her about her wife, their son, and how things are going. Knowing I am in school for library science, and we were AT A LIBRARY, she asked if I had any recommendations for books for her three year old son. Specifically she wanted to know if I could recommend any books that had families with anything other than one mother, one father, and their biological children. And they already own Heather Has Two Mommies. She wasn't even necessarily looking for books that showed her son a family that looked like theirs. What she was interested in was showing her son that there is not just one kind of "normal" family in the world. Given that as of 2013, approximately 6 million American children and adults have a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender parent, this seems like a reasonable request. In fact, less than half (46%) of American kids live in a home with two married heterosexual parents. There must be books out there that show these children families that look like theirs, for while we look to books to learn about the world that is different from our own experiences, we also use books for comfort and to see ourselves.
I did not have a list like what my friend was talking about from the top off my head, but I felt fairly confident that I could come up with a good quick list. I started rattling off some titles, and my friend pointed out that every one I named had animal characters. She wanted human families. I quickly realized I was going to have to do a lot more work to come up with a list for her. What I found from noodling around was a lot of great books that are about different families, or about having two mommies, a dad away in the military, divorced parents, or adoption. And these books are fantastic.
I did not have a list like what my friend was talking about from the top off my head, but I felt fairly confident that I could come up with a good quick list. I started rattling off some titles, and my friend pointed out that every one I named had animal characters. She wanted human families. I quickly realized I was going to have to do a lot more work to come up with a list for her. What I found from noodling around was a lot of great books that are about different families, or about having two mommies, a dad away in the military, divorced parents, or adoption. And these books are fantastic.
What I had trouble finding was books about growing a garden, or playing baseball, or having a tough day at school and coming home to a family that is anything other than a father and a mother married and living together in the same house (though there do seem to be a lot of single parent animal families).
As children get older, many schools and libraries have bigger collections that show more LGBTQ characters, stories, and families. The YA publishers have a lot of titles out right now that address the issues these teens face, but also just show these teens as a normal part of the American landscape. While this list does nothing to help my friend with her three year old son, it is a great list that is growing all the time.
As children get older, many schools and libraries have bigger collections that show more LGBTQ characters, stories, and families. The YA publishers have a lot of titles out right now that address the issues these teens face, but also just show these teens as a normal part of the American landscape. While this list does nothing to help my friend with her three year old son, it is a great list that is growing all the time.
What I look forward to, is the time when my friend, her three year old son, and all other children can find books that have characters that look like them, their families, their homes. That these characters do all the things that they do, and have all the normal feelings they have. I think these books are out there, but it is the job of all librarians, teachers and schools to make sure that these books are prevalent and accessible. It shouldn't be so hard for these kids to find themselves in a book.