Reflection of personal set of LGBTQ books

In Rudine Sims Bishop’s article, Selecting Literature for a Multicultural Curriculum, it states, “students need to recognize the diversity that defines this society, learn to respect it, and see it in a positive light. Literature becomes one of the ways in which schools can affirm pluralism (3).” Our society continues to become more diverse each day in respect to race, culture and sexual identity. Books become powerful vehicles that can help educate, correct misconceptions and give a mirror to students who are in underrepresented groups. Through this final project for TE448 I chose to focus on themes of sexual identity in children’s books. After reading and evaluating many LGBTQ books I chose three that I thought were the highest of quality and that did not encourage any stereotypes. The books I reviewed are, Emma and Meesha My Boy : A Two Mom Story by Kaitlyn Considine, Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman and Between Mom and Jo by Julie Anne Peters.

By reading and reviewing these three books and plenty of others I learned that a lot of LGBTQ books concentrate their theme around sexuality identity instead of just adding gay/lesbian characters to story. When the plot is based off characters being gay/lesbian there is more room for stereotyping. Emma and Meesha My Boy : A Two Mom Story was one of the few books that had a plot that did not revolve around Emma having two moms. The focus of the book was Emma learning to take care of her cat and she just so happened to have two moms.

Also, not being an insider to this group I was unable to relate to the characters of the books. But reading these books gave me the inside scoop of their emotions and personal feelings. Even though Heather was of preschool age, after reading Heather Has Two Mommies I learned that even the simplest of things such as reading a book, can trigger the emotion of feeling left out or different. Also in Between Mom and Jo, Nick struggles because his teachers are not accepting of his lesbian moms and home life.

These three books are of very different reading levels, but were still able to inform outsiders (like me) to topics I am unfamiliar with. A quote that we discussed in class was “Normal is only a setting on a dishwasher.” I have thought about these eight words countless number of times and believe it is something that all teachers should remember while teaching. No student is normal or the same, and therefore a variety of books need to be available in the classroom so that students can not only learn more but also can have their identity confirmed through these books.