Fostering an Appreciation for all Kinds of Families: Picture Books with Gay and Lesbian Themes By: Kay Chick

Overall there is a shortage of books with literature and illustrations of different types of families. Chick particularly looked at gay and lesbian children’s books, but also mentioned various types of families within the article. This article certainly needs to be read by all teacher, parents, and people in society as a whole. Many people feel as though children at an early age should be censored from some aspects of society such as adoption or gay and lesbian issues, but Chick disagrees. I feel the same. “Young children’s understanding of family and their role in it is paramount to their sense of belonging” (Chick 2008).” Exposure is very vital for students to have with these topics. It is not about telling the students about sexuality, but giving them a piece of literature they can identify with.

Kay Chick does a tremendous job in getting across to her readers the requirement for diverse families such as gay and lesbian to be more of a demand in literature. This does not mean every children’s book about diverse types of families are positive representations of the topic. She gives various examples of individual pieces of literature that are good and not so good for students to read. For insistence, Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite and Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman, she considered were poor representations of the gay/lesbian lifestyle for children because one displayed physical contact with two men rubbing suntan lotion on each other and the other book talked about conception and artificial insemination. These are not topics young children are developmentally not ready to discuss (Chaxick 2008). On a positive note she discusses books like All Families Are Different by Sol Gordon and Molly’s Family by Nancy Garden. All Families Are Different helps address numerous types of families from race, gender, structure, and so much more. Almost, if not all, students will be able to find a family to relate to. Molly’s Family tells of kindergartener who has two mommies who is confused about her situation and her mom and teacher helps her and her classrooms understand that it is okay there are different types of families. As a whole the article succeeds in informing people the critical necessity of putting these types of story books not only in the classrooms, but at home as well. Diversity is apart of our society and our children’s lives. Doing this will benefit the students so much through their time of self identity and deciding where they belong in society.