This is a book about a boy who lives with his mother who recently was divorced. The young boy still maintains a good relationship with his father and visits him on the weekends. Soon, the young boy’s father moves in with another man and the young boy learns his father is gay. I think this book is important for children to read and understand. It has not only become more accepted but it has become more of a reality in our culture. Not everyone is the same (some people are gay) and not everything lasts forever (like a marriage).
I think it is very important for children to learn about gay people. They need to be familiar with all different types of people such as race, ethnicity, gender, as well as sexual orientation. I think we should treat each other equally while understanding, appreciating, and celebrating each other’s differences. I have a daughter and I know when she gets a little older I would rather talk to her about gay people rather than having her see it and be unable to identify with it and immediately make negative judgments about it. I think this book is a good learning tool for kids and I consider it to be a wonderful example to represent diversity in our culture. In addition, nowadays, many gay people adopt and raise kids as their own. Why would it be ok to adopt and raise a child in a gay family but not ok to talk about it and express it in the form of a picture book where many kids who are dealing with this are confused? Children need to learn to let out their feelings and emotions, especially during a situation like this one. This is a reality in many people’s lives. They need to know there is nothing wrong with them and that they are not alone.
Keep in mind that the comment "I think children should learn about gay people" assumes that "gay people" are always the "others" or people to be learned about (never the ones doing the learning or experiencing it themselves. I think that you have the best intentions here, I just think that you might think about your wording.
ReplyDeleteAs for you posts in general, I think that they show your developing ability to critically analze children's literature. I felt like many of them take a on a teaching viewpoint (i.e. which books are educational), which is one option for this assignmnet. I think that you do balance plot summaries with your own analysis--but perhaps you could lean heavier on analysis for the next part of the semester.
This was one of the books I checked out this past week and read even though I didn't comment about it on my own blog. As the young boy learns, love comes in all forms, and sometimes is does happen to be between two people of the same sex. I see this book as a valuable teaching tool in the classroom that focuses on happiness, understanding, and acceptance of different lifestyles. However, I did have troubles with one of the pictures in the story. This picture shows the dad and his roommate rubbing lotion on each other. I don't know if that picture was necessary to the story, but I also realize that this statement I am making shows my own biases. Our culture is still not fully comfortable when seeing two men or two women display affection towards one another in public. Our societal and cultural attitudes are changing, but it's doing so slowly. Perhaps by introducing books such like this one early on during children's school careers, even greater tolerance will develop among the next generation.
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