Rating: 
Summary: moral relativism strikes again
Review: "A reader from Missouri," in the context of her plea for tolerance, calls those who disagree with her "hypocritical religious freaks" and "ignorant." Hmmm.. interesting. I am saddened by all of these books that promote gay families, because we are so completely unaware as a society of the future toll that will be taken on these children. Doing whatever makes the adults happy is not necessarily what is best for the child. Promoting it in the name of tolerance is irresponsible and dangerous.
Rating: 
Summary: Thanks for the Changes!
Review: A round of applause for Leslea Newman who realized that her book needed a revision for the 10th Anniversary Edition. She focused on the true message of the book, that the "most important thing about a family is that all the people in it love each other." She simplified the writing to better fit preschool audiences, but most importantly, removed the sections about how Mama Jane and Mama Kate got together and then concieved Heather. These were the sections that kept it out of preschools and other settings, in spite of the great message. Thank you Ms. Newman! Now I can't wait to buy several copies for my daughter's daycare, our church, and our local public Library!
Rating: 
Summary: This book changed my kids forever!
Review: Before I sensitivity-trained my two little boys with this book, they were just unbearable little monsters. They would go out into the neighborhood and savagely beat any other little boys they saw who showed any signs of being gay: earring on the right ear, shirt buttoned all the way up with no tie, shirt matches socks, etc. They would also hide in the bushes to throw rotten vegetables at all the little girls who didn't wear dresses to school, chanting "dykes", "witches". That was the last straw for me, so I made them sit and read this book. Now, thanks to this book, they've learned to embrace all forms of diversity, including gays, lesbians, Jehovah's witnesses, etc. They've even gone so far as to start their own PFLAG chapter at their elementary school. WOW, Ms. Newman, we couldn't have done it without you! If every kid would sit and read your book, there'd be no more hatred in all the world!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Book
Review: Both my partner and myself fell in love with this book. Our daughter also likes reading this book. She likes it so much that she wanted to give one to her class so that they could "learn" that there are families that don't always have a mom and a dad.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Book
Review: First off all, this book deserves some credit for being one of-if not the very first- books for kids dealing with gay parents. This book has a sweet story and is appropriate for small children- not too gritty or 'adult' or anything. However the attempt at showing 'alternative' families in a positive light backfires- the lesbian couple is a caricature of steryotypical butch/femme couple one might see on a... sitcom. The 'two mommies' reinforced a lable rather then break it and show them in a positive light. I'm sure the author was trying to be 'authentic' but all that was accomplished was the women looking even MORE different and 'weird' and heather looking even more alien then similar to a male/feamle household. I thought that was really unfortunate.
Rating: 
Summary: the message backfires
Review: First off all, this book deserves some credit for being one of-if not the very first- books for kids dealing with gay parents. This book has a sweet story and is appropriate for small children- not too gritty or 'adult' or anything. However the attempt at showing 'alternative' families in a positive light backfires- the lesbian couple is a caricature of steryotypical butch/femme couple one might see on a... sitcom. The 'two mommies' reinforced a lable rather then break it and show them in a positive light. I'm sure the author was trying to be 'authentic' but all that was accomplished was the women looking even MORE different and 'weird' and heather looking even more alien then similar to a male/feamle household. I thought that was really unfortunate.
Rating:
Summary: Children's Book Explores Lesbian Mothers
Review: HEATHER HAS TWO MOMMIES, by Leslea Newman, is a story of a lesbian couple who decides to have a child through alternative insemination. At three years old, Heather joins a play group where it is suggested for the first time that she has no daddy. While the children are drawing pictures and discussing their diverse families (children with two daddies, one mommy and no daddy, a mommy and step-father, adopted family and nuclear family) the teacher acknowledges that "each family is special." HEATHER HASTWO MOMMIES has been the focus of a great deal of controversy in school districts and with parents and other adults. This is a lengthy story which can be seen as an "explanatory book" because of the focus on spelling out how Heather's family began. Part of the story is dedicated to: how Heather's mommies were friends for a long time, fell in love and decided to live together, how they created a family, visited a fertility doctor and extended their family with a child. There is even a page or two on the types of careers the women have. Mama Jane, the biological mother, is a carpenter and Mama Kate is a doctor. The discussion of alternative insemination includesvisiting the "special" doctor, putting some sperm in Mama Jane's vagina, and the sperm and egg meeting in the womb. This detail is needed to explain how Heather was created without a father. This section makes for interesting conversation among eight year olds, for example, who are beginning to question and understand the world of sexuality and family configurations, or even six- or seven-year-olds who are wondering how a child cannot have a father because "you need a mother and father to make a baby." These issues and the book's length may cause the book to be considered inappropriate for casual reading with children in a school setting under the age of six. However, it may be an interesting selection to help support discussions with individual children on different types of families or, more specifically, for lesbian parents needing to carefully explain to their children how they were created. This was the first of a wave of literature which explicitly depicted and discussed a lesbian-headed family in the U.S. (published in 1989). For many families, this book was extremely helpful because it addressed some of the concerns of young children of lesbian parents which were not addressed in other children's literature. One somewhat confusing aspect of the book is that while the black and white illustrations were appropriate for young children, the text seemed more appropriate for older children. Because of its illustrations, and by altering the text, this book can be used with young children because there are interesting depictions of the women hugging each other, of Kate's hands on Jane's womb when she is nine months pregnant, and of the women caring for Heather in a number of instances. The details in each illustration, and the way the black and white sketches do not prohibit the audience from detecting various ethnic and racial differences among the children makes them find contributions to works for children. At the same time, some of the details of the illustrations are incongruous with the story. The children's drawings of their families, for instance, are extremely detailed for 3-year-old children, many of whom are not yet doing representational drawing. This small criticism, however, should not keep parents or teachers from reading the book to young children.
Rating:
Summary: There are better books to read about LGBT Families
Review: Honestly, this is not a book that i would choose for my son to read. I'm an out-gay man who adopted an infant ten years ago. It's just not a good quality book for the apparent age-range targeted. The black-and-white drawings do not make it attractive and Alternative/Artificial Insemination is not a topic of interest to kids that age or necessarily appropriate. It's certainly not a book that my son has ever picked off the bookshelves for me to read to him or for him to read to himself. Books like One Dad, Two Dads," "The Duke Who Outlawed Jellybeens (or is it Rainbows?)," and "Two Moms, the Zark, and Me" are the books that he keeps going back to, reading on his own, asking me to read them, or sharing with his friends. Just because a book is written by us about us does not make it a good quality book.
Rating:
Summary: the new edition is a great improvement!
Review: I am a lesbian mother of three, and my children love this book! It makes them feel good to know that there are other kids like them, and to see it in print really validates their lives. However, if you have children under six I recommend the NEW EDITION. It leaves out the conception part, and is a much shorter story, but still retains the same wonderful message that leaves our kids feeling that they are not alone.
Rating:
Summary: May not reach intended audiences on account of bad graphics.
Review: I appreciate the openess (since kids are much smarter than we give them credit for, the insemination would not upset children) of this book, but the lack of color is tricky in a children's book. I have read some excellent 'current issue' children's fiction books which succeed in telling their story (and inspiring creative thinking) without using color (Days with Daddy) but the lines in those stories were well-defined. The hazy presentation of this book will ironically make it difficult to talk with kids about so-called alternative families. The most open message in the world becomes cold and inviting if it cannot appeal to the eye of the intended reader. Plus, if colors convey mood, this same decision may inadvertently suggest the women and Heather are engaged in something secretive and not as valid when compared against the activities of status quo idealized heterosexual families. Ms. Newman may have completely different politics, but she seems to echo the far right's endless admonitions about sexuality and youth with the layout. Future editions need to have clear color graphics throughout the text.Art is not benign, but a political statement as important as carefuly crafted text. It is difficult for children to be excited/proud about their families (or the existence of GLBT families) after reading a book which seems gloomy.
|
