I chose to do my final project on children’s literature including GLBT issues. This was a topic area that fascinated me due to its minimal representation in the literature world and the continual search for acceptance that it seeks. During my initial search for credible books, I struggled to find libraries that included these books. Not only was there a lack of resources, the responses of those who offered to help me quickly become unresponsive after hearing my area of research.
After a difficult start I was able to find several books that reinforced my examination of this diverse literature group. I was able to find numerous books that were both relatable to children and which displayed positive examples of homosexual relationships. The three I chose to focus my critical look into were Molly’s Family, And Tango Makes Three, and Daddy’s Roommate.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Article: Bridging Multicultural Education
Swartz, Patti. Bridging Multicultural Education: Bringing Sexual Orientation into the Children’s and Young Adult Literature Classrooms. Radical Teacher no66 (2003).
This article discusses the importance of including literature displaying homosexuality. One of the main causes for the struggles of gay and lesbian individuals stem from name calling. Swartz notes in her article that this typically occurs in elementary school. Due to this fact, the idea of introducing diverse literature including homosexuality at an early age will ultimately help prevent future discrimination. However, this then places the burden upon teachers. Swartz believes they should be obligated to become familiar and comfortable with the topic of homosexuality as well as know what purposes this type of literature can serve to a classroom of young children. One purpose would be to allow children the opportunity to ask questions.
Additionally, there is an enormous stress placed upon stereotypes. This article mentions that the more kids hear inaccurate information, the more tempted they are to believe the false-hoods that often accompany stereotypes. Swartz brings into focus the idea of gender roles and the uneven discrimination that is distributed to male and female homosexuals. It is the belief of Patti Swartz, that through the introduction of homosexual literature in classrooms the acceptance of the homosexual culture and community will be more effective.
This article discusses the importance of including literature displaying homosexuality. One of the main causes for the struggles of gay and lesbian individuals stem from name calling. Swartz notes in her article that this typically occurs in elementary school. Due to this fact, the idea of introducing diverse literature including homosexuality at an early age will ultimately help prevent future discrimination. However, this then places the burden upon teachers. Swartz believes they should be obligated to become familiar and comfortable with the topic of homosexuality as well as know what purposes this type of literature can serve to a classroom of young children. One purpose would be to allow children the opportunity to ask questions.
Additionally, there is an enormous stress placed upon stereotypes. This article mentions that the more kids hear inaccurate information, the more tempted they are to believe the false-hoods that often accompany stereotypes. Swartz brings into focus the idea of gender roles and the uneven discrimination that is distributed to male and female homosexuals. It is the belief of Patti Swartz, that through the introduction of homosexual literature in classrooms the acceptance of the homosexual culture and community will be more effective.
Molly's Family
Garden, Nancy (writer) Sharon Wooding (illustrator). 2004. Molly’s Family. Farrar Stratus Giroux: New York.
Molly’s Family is the story of a young girl named Molly whose kindergarten class is having an open house. When Molly’s teacher, Ms. Marston, asks the students to prepare for the special night Molly decides to draw a picture of her family; Mommy, Mama Lu, and Sam their dog. A fellow student, Tommy, takes notice of Molly’s picture and proclaims that she can not have two mommies. Molly’s mommies and teacher explain that there are many different kinds of families. Molly realizes that is okay to have two mommies and decides to proudly display her family picture in the classroom.
Molly’s Family is an excellent book to include in a classroom to represent GLBT literature. This story is relatable to many children, teachers, and families with same sex parents. Molly’s Family not only portrays a family with two mommies, it also highlights the diversity of all families through the students in Molly’s classroom. One child has only a father, another has a mothers and father, while one student has simply a mother. The author, Garden, does an excellent job of confronting a “typical” reaction to Molly’s unusual family, and provides positive examples of doing so. Garden represents her characters asking questions and providing examples to a new situation. Additionally, the action of discussing Molly’s family allows the reader to see an optimistic outlook on the idea and confrontation of homosexuality.
However, aside from the positive effects of the book, Molly’s Family may also help to enforce some stereotypes and lack variety within its characters. Throughout the story I noticed all the characters, or persons displayed, were of Caucasian decent. Apart from their variation in hair color, the characters lack racial diversity. Additionally, the characters of Mommy and Mama Lu appeared to portray a certain persona which accompanies stereotypical lesbian couples. While Mommy has long hair and comes across more feminine in her appearance, Mama Lu has a short hair cut and exhibits a more masculine look. After taking a critical look at this story I leave any future reader with the question; are the effects of stereotypes enhanced through their use in children’s literature, or can they become just a piece of the scenery?
Molly’s Family is the story of a young girl named Molly whose kindergarten class is having an open house. When Molly’s teacher, Ms. Marston, asks the students to prepare for the special night Molly decides to draw a picture of her family; Mommy, Mama Lu, and Sam their dog. A fellow student, Tommy, takes notice of Molly’s picture and proclaims that she can not have two mommies. Molly’s mommies and teacher explain that there are many different kinds of families. Molly realizes that is okay to have two mommies and decides to proudly display her family picture in the classroom.
Molly’s Family is an excellent book to include in a classroom to represent GLBT literature. This story is relatable to many children, teachers, and families with same sex parents. Molly’s Family not only portrays a family with two mommies, it also highlights the diversity of all families through the students in Molly’s classroom. One child has only a father, another has a mothers and father, while one student has simply a mother. The author, Garden, does an excellent job of confronting a “typical” reaction to Molly’s unusual family, and provides positive examples of doing so. Garden represents her characters asking questions and providing examples to a new situation. Additionally, the action of discussing Molly’s family allows the reader to see an optimistic outlook on the idea and confrontation of homosexuality.
However, aside from the positive effects of the book, Molly’s Family may also help to enforce some stereotypes and lack variety within its characters. Throughout the story I noticed all the characters, or persons displayed, were of Caucasian decent. Apart from their variation in hair color, the characters lack racial diversity. Additionally, the characters of Mommy and Mama Lu appeared to portray a certain persona which accompanies stereotypical lesbian couples. While Mommy has long hair and comes across more feminine in her appearance, Mama Lu has a short hair cut and exhibits a more masculine look. After taking a critical look at this story I leave any future reader with the question; are the effects of stereotypes enhanced through their use in children’s literature, or can they become just a piece of the scenery?
And Tango Makes Three
Richardson, Justin and Peter Parnell (writers) Henry Cole (illustrator). 2005. And Tango Makes Three. New York: Simon and Schuster Books For Young Readers
And Tango Makes Three is a story that displays the diversity of a family among animals living in Central Park zoo, New York. Roy and Silo are two male penguins who begin to build a relationship. The two penguins are able to all same things as the other penguin couples, besides lay and hatch an egg. The zoo keeper notices this and provides Roy and Silo with an egg. As the other penguins, Roy and Silo take turns sitting on the egg to keep it warm and fetching food. Soon the egg hatches and their family is complete with their baby girl penguin, Tango. Several individuals from the community visit the zoo and admire Roy, Silo, and Tango’s happy family.
Richardson and Parnell’s book And Tango Makes Three does an excellent job of portraying a non-traditional family. Due to the fact that being “different” usually entails a negative connotation, the use of the characters being animals allows the reader to attach a sense of sensitivity and understanding. I also appreciated that although the main characters are animals, their relationship and family unit is depicted no differently than one would be if the characters were humans. Roy and Silo seek after a family that is united with love, raising a child, and whom perform daily activities together.
I believe that in addition to providing a great example to introducing the idea of homosexuality to a classroom, I also feel that this story will allow my students and other readers to feel comfortable with the unfamiliar family structure. The book is based on a true story. In addition to great remarks by several readers, this book has won several awards including the prominent 2006 American Library Association (ALA) Notable Children’s Book Award.
And Tango Makes Three is a story that displays the diversity of a family among animals living in Central Park zoo, New York. Roy and Silo are two male penguins who begin to build a relationship. The two penguins are able to all same things as the other penguin couples, besides lay and hatch an egg. The zoo keeper notices this and provides Roy and Silo with an egg. As the other penguins, Roy and Silo take turns sitting on the egg to keep it warm and fetching food. Soon the egg hatches and their family is complete with their baby girl penguin, Tango. Several individuals from the community visit the zoo and admire Roy, Silo, and Tango’s happy family.
Richardson and Parnell’s book And Tango Makes Three does an excellent job of portraying a non-traditional family. Due to the fact that being “different” usually entails a negative connotation, the use of the characters being animals allows the reader to attach a sense of sensitivity and understanding. I also appreciated that although the main characters are animals, their relationship and family unit is depicted no differently than one would be if the characters were humans. Roy and Silo seek after a family that is united with love, raising a child, and whom perform daily activities together.
I believe that in addition to providing a great example to introducing the idea of homosexuality to a classroom, I also feel that this story will allow my students and other readers to feel comfortable with the unfamiliar family structure. The book is based on a true story. In addition to great remarks by several readers, this book has won several awards including the prominent 2006 American Library Association (ALA) Notable Children’s Book Award.
Daddy's Roomate
Willhoite, Michael. Daddy’s Roommate.
Daddy’s Roommate tells the story of a young boy whose parents recently divorced, and the father acquires a new roommate; Frank. The boy’s father and Frank express their relationship through several common actions. The two eat together, sleep together, clean together, and even argue with one another. Frank also develops a relationship with the young boy as he reads stories to him, helps catch bugs for show and tell, and also chases away his nightmares. The young boys mothers reveals that Daddy and Frank are gay, describing this unfamiliar word as a different type of love. Despite this new and unusual relationship, the young boy realizes that both he and his Daddy are happy because love is the best kind of happiness.
Daddy’s Roommate is a book in which highlights the normalcy of homosexual couples. Stereotypes play a major role in our viewpoint of certain situations and the author, Willhoite, does an excellent job of counteracting these falsehoods. Daddy’s Roommate is an easy book to read in that the pages are covered almost entirely with illustrations leaving minimal room for text. This is an important decision by the author because his illustrations have to hold the weight by portraying what is being said in just a couple words.
The main idea of this story is to display how a couple of two men, who have a child, can be the same as any other family. By the authors’ examples of common daily activities done by the couple and the young boy, allows the reader to feel connected to the story and its characters even if they don’t have a family similar to the one being represented. Additionally, the involvement of the young boys’ mother is beneficial to the story. She had a positive and encouraging outlook on the young boys’ father’s relationship.
I also appreciated that this story began with a mother and father getting divorced. The topic of divorce, alone, is usually difficult. It is typically depicted, again by society, with anger, hurt, and constant arguing. However, Willhoite gives the reader an opportunity to see a divorce occur in which the parents and the child are happy and supportive of one another.
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