I'd heard about this controversial picture book for years now, but had never actually read it. Well last night during a Skype session with my younger siblings, I decided to do an impromptu reading of it. They were not as amused as I was of the notion of reading a bedtime story to 18 and 16 year old kiddos.
The story is cute. Little Heather's favorite number is 2. She has 2 of this, 2 of that, and holy moly she has 2 moms. Fancy that. She then goes to a playgroup where the sitter has all of the children draw their families, because every family is different and "the most important thing about a family is that all the people in it love each other." It's a very simple story that doesn't really focus on the fact that there are lesbians about. Technically, it's only implied that they're lesbians; the story doesn't actually label them as such. I like it and it truly is a groundbreaking book. The problem: the illustrations are horrific!! Seriously, what is going on in that cover? The dog (wolf??) looks like it's about to eat the poor girl! If you cover the title and show this to a kid, they'll assume it's Little Red Riding Hood. The drawings within the book don't get much better. But despite the terrible artwork, this book isn't going anywhere and that makes me happy. Go lesbians!
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