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?