Tag: reading

T’s Reads: Alien Nation by Matty Donaldson

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This week was National Coming Out Day. If you’ve not heard of it or had your head in the sand for 24 hours, it’s a day to celebrate the coming out of the LGBTQ community (as a member or as an ally). We’ve written our feelings about the day before, which you can find over here.

Founded in the United States in 1988, the initial idea was grounded in the feminist and gay liberation spirit of the personal being political, and the emphasis on the most basic form of activism being coming out to family, friends and colleagues, and living life as an openly lesbian or gay person. The foundational belief is that homophobia thrives in an atmosphere of silence and ignorance, and that once people know that they have loved ones who are lesbian or gay, they are far less likely to maintain homophobic or oppressive views.

Wikipedia

As well as a form of protest, it’s also an opportunity for members of the community to educate others on the language they use and advise others on what they can do to help those still in the proverbial closet.

In keeping with the theme, we were recently sent a children’s book that does this.

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T’s Reads: LGBT Books: Two Mums & Two Mums and a Menagerie, by Carolyn Robertson

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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.

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T’s Reads: Book Advent Calendar – Week Four & Ideas to Create Your Own!

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Christmas has now come and gone, which means T’s book advent has come to a close. This was our first year of doing a book advent after first hearing about it from Al at The Dad Network, and I must say it was really fun.

I really enjoyed us reading T a new book every night, and T was just happy to get a piece of chocolate every night! On his last night, Christmas Eve, we even added an extra special gift to his present – pyjamas!

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T’s Reads: Timeline Wallbooks by What on Earth? Books.

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Although we love a good story book in this house – which is evident in the fact we did T a book advent this year instead of a traditional numbered calendar with doors – we also love having a variety of educational books on his shelves.

It’s only been within the past 12-18 months that we’ve started to buy books that explore subjects such as art, science and history, and although T doesn’t quite understand the meaning of some things, I believe imagery is still a fantastic way to get them started – or at least encourage them ask questions!

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T’s Reads: Book Advent Calendar – Week Three

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With only 4 more sleeps until Christmas, December has officially flown by. T’s crate is now almost empty and we’re undecided whether to keep the crate out for the year and find toys or books to keep in it, or dedicate it just for the book advent.

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His last book advent, on Christmas Eve, will have an extra gift tucked alongside the book – keep an eye out for next week’s post to see what we’ve included. If you missed last week, you can find this here.

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T’s Reads: Book Advent Calendar – Week Two

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This week seems to have flown by, with the main theme being either Pip & Posy or the Happy Families series. T has now got very good at identifying which book is which at the moment just by feeling them – which is how we’ve managed to get so many of the same the same books!

I’m going to be sad when the book advent finally finishes as it’s been such a nice way to end the day. Although we’ll always have our bedtime story, it’s been lovely watching him get excited about a brand new book every day.

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