HEATHER HAS TWO MOMMIES, by Leslea Newman and Laura Cornell


Newman, L., & Cornell, L. (2015). HEATHER HAS TWO MOMMIES. Candlewick Press.

 

Heather has two mommies. Being three years old, she doesn’t see that anything is different about her family. When Heather goes to school for the first time, someone asks her about her daddy, but Heather doesn’t have a daddy. Then something interesting happens. When Heather and her classmates all draw pictures of their families, not one drawing is the same. In fact, most of the kids in the book are living in a nontraditional family setting. All of them are fine, and none of them see anything wrong with Heather or her family.

In everything I have read about this book, it was much more accepted in 2015 than it was in 1989. When it was first published, people went nuts. There were members of the clergy stealing it from libraries. It amazes me how much society has changed in the now 33 years this book has been in print. It was a trailblazer. I will say this, I found the book in a branch of a city library with a population of about 115,000 people. It was the only children’s picture book I found with LGBTQ characters.

The cultural markers in the book are shown in the illustrations. You have pictures of  Heather and her two mommies spending time together, doing regular family activities. When Heather goes to school, the illustrations are depicting children accepting Heather, even after they draw the pictures of their families. The best line in the book is when the teacher, Ms. Molly says, “It doesn’t matter how many mommies or how many daddies your family has.”  “It doesn’t matter if your family has sisters or brothers or cousins or grandmas or grandpas or uncles or aunts.”  “Each family is special. The most important thing about a family is that all the people in it love each other.”

 

Rainbow Project Booklist 2016

 

New York Journal of Books: “This is a warm and gentle view of a little girl starting school, meeting new friends, and discovering a wider world. The kids learn that differences are just another part of life.”

Kirkus: “Newman’s picture book about Heather and her mommies first appeared 25 years ago as the product of desktop publishing and a determination to create a story reflecting family diversity. This updated version includes new illustrations by the commercially successful Cornell, which supply humor and avoid lesbian stereotypes that dogged earlier versions. In keeping with prior, small-press revisions, the updated text omits reference to alternative insemination, and the story resists focusing on angst Heather feels over having two mommies.”

 

Other picture books with LGBTQ characters:

 JULIÁN IS A MERMAID, by Jessica Love ISBN: 9780763690458

I'M NOT A GIRL: A TRANSGENDER STORY, by Maddox Lyons, Jessica Verdi, Dana Simpson ISBN: 9780374310684

WHEN AIDAN BECAME A BROTHER, by Kyle Lukoff, Kaylani Juanita ISBN: 9781620148372


 

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