Going along with controversial picture books is My Two Uncles by Judith Vigna. This story is about a young girl who loves spending time with her uncle and his partner. However, when it is time for her grandparents anniversary party her uncle won't come. This is because the grandfather in the story does not approve of his son being gay. Elly, the main character, has trouble grasping why her grandfather is so mad at her uncle. Her dad explains everything there is to know about being gay to her one day on the porch. In the end the grandfather does come around and go to the uncles house and meet the boyfriend after 5 years of avoidance.
This week as I am looking through books that are considered controversial in the classroom, I am starting to become aware of a what a good way to portray this topic would be in a book. I don't like how Vigna just has the dad tell little Elly flat out that her uncle is gay. I think gay is a lot of times miss used in schools today, so connecting those two ideas as the first way to introduce it wasn't the best idea. Maybe a better way to say it is, "Your uncle loves you very much. He loves Phil to, like I love mommy." Or something like that. I also think that the illustrations in this text were dull. They didn't capture my attention like I hoped they would. Also, there is a lot of text and the actual words are simple and babying the reader in a way.
This book wasn't one of my favorites.
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