Picture Books IV

Felicia's Favourite Story. Written by Lesléa Newman, Illustrated by Adriana Romo. This is the story of a little girl with two mothers. She asks her mothers to tell her a bedtime story. What results is a sweet adoption story. The fact that her parents are lesbian isn't as much of a factor as the fact that she is adopted. The parents could have been hetero or homosexual and the story would have been the same. The illustrations are soft coloured pencil drawings and compliment the story well, including little hidden gems in the borders. Another classic by the author of Heather Has Two Mommies.

Gloria Goes To Gay Pride. Written by Lesléa Newman, Illustrated by Russell Crocker. This book tells the story of a little girl with two mothers. It begins by talking about her everyday life and things she does with her mothers (including celebrate Hanukkah) and then she talks about going to a Gay Pride Day parade and all the people she meets and things she does. The story is wonderfully sweet, that of a little girl that doesn't know anything other than her life. It's slightly pedantic, but not overly so and the pure joy of Gloria overrides any negative that could bring. The black and white illustrations don't fit with the story at all. On top of them being dated, it's a story that should be told in colour. But even this doesn't take away from the charm of this book.

ABC: A Family Alphabet Book. Written by Bobbie Combs, Illustrated by Desiree Keane and Brian Rappa. With word (and sentence) for every letter, this book goes through the alphabet telling bits of these young children's lives. The children happen to have two mothers or two fathers, but that isn't the focus of the book. Another book that has no need to teach about how all families are different, but yet one that children of a gay couple can see themselves in your garden variety alphabet book. The illustrations are bright and colourful, with lots to look at on each page. They give even more dimension to an already charming book.

10,000 Dresses. Written by Marcus Ewert, Illustrated by Rex Ray. This book tells the story of Bailey. She (as she is referred to throughout the book) was born a boy, but she has dreams about beautiful dresses that she longs to wear. When she tells friends and family that she wants dresses, she's told curly that boys don't wear dresses and she should never mention it again. In the end, though, she meets a dress designer that does make the dresses for her. The first book I've seen directed towards transgendered children, this one is wonderfully done. Where they previously thought they were alone, they can see themselves in Bailey's struggles, and find themselves with the same happy ending with an accepting friend. The very colourful cut-out style illustrations fit perfectly with the story. A wonderful book that fills a very important need.

No Girls Allowed. Written by Susan Hughes, Illustrated by Willow Dawson. This comic book tells the story of seven women through history that have dressed (and sometimes lived) as men in order to do things that women were not allowed to do. In my library system this book was labeled with a "transgendered" tag, but that is far from the truth, though worth mentioning here to illustrate a point. The women in this book felt as if they were women, but did what they needed to to become doctors or soldiers in a time when women were not allowed to do these things. They were not transgendered whatsoever. They didn't want to become men, they didn't feel as if they were men, they were dressing in another way to achieve their goals. This brings up the sad point that people don't know the meaning of the word, children as well as adults. Wearing men's clothes does not make someone transgendered. This tag on this book is much more detrimental than helpful for the trans community.