T’s Reads: LGBT Books: Two Mums & Two Mums and a Menagerie, by Carolyn Robertson
We’re always on the lookout for books that represent us as a family as we feel it’s important not just for T, so that he doesn’t always feel like a minority, but for society, so that they can accept, and dare I say it, ‘normalise’ us as a family unit.
If you visit your local library or book shop, it’s very rare that you’ll see many stories that show same sex families living every day lives like other stories on the shelves. More often than not, you’ll see books that ‘educate’ readers about different families, but there aren’t many than don’t make a point of the family being a same sex family.
Carolyn Robertson and her partner are adoptive mums to two boys, and began her publishing platform ‘Sparklypoo‘ in 2014 as a way to create books for LGBT adoptive families when she saw that the market was lacking in this subject.
I wanted to create books that were full of colour, fun and humour that would sit alongside all the other books our children enjoyed. Most of all I wanted affirming books that all children could appreciate because the topic of having Two Mums or Dads was simply incidental to the story.
Two Mums
Two Mums is a wonderful story about, you guessed it, two mums and their daughter and how having two mums can be double the fun.
This beautifully illustrated book talks about life with two mums from the perspective of the child and goes through a fun journey about all the things two mums get up to. From rollerblading to baking. Nothing is off limits.
There are several things I love about this book.
Firstly, I love that the women don’t confirm to gender stereotypes. So whilst one mum does baking and art, the other loves more adventurous activities as well as cuddling and reading stories! Secondly, as a gay woman, I love how the women have been illustrated.
Too often, Lesbians are illustrated as ‘butch’ looking, usually wearing jeans and a t-shirt, boasting rather short hair and maybe a sneaky tattoo. This is not the case in this book. Both mums are incredibly unique and I feel represent the whole spectrum.
Two Mums and a Menagerie
This story features a family of two mums and two sons, and doesn’t mention the fact that they are a two mum family. The sole purpose of this book is to explore their ever growing family!
Completely different when it comes to illustrations, this more gently illustrated book concentrates on the flow of the story – which has a fun and lively theme – often reading in rhyme.
Again, the illustrations step away from the typical ‘Gay stereotype’ and even explores a different ethnic background within the family, as well as fits around families who are adoptive – as this story doesn’t suggest otherwise!
This is a lovely story and T thoroughly enjoyed identifying all the animals.
Regardless of your family make-up, I would highly recommend adding these gorgeous books to your collection. For us, it was lovely to hear T identify that the parents were two mums – like it was no big deal! It would mean the world to us seeing other children do the same.
We were sent Two Mums & Two Mums and a Menagerie for the purpose of an honest review, however all thoughts, opinions, and images are our own.
