Mom, Mama, and Me... and How I Came to Be!
by Tina Rella
illus. by Monica Meza
Language: English
CreateSpace, 2010.
26 p. : col. ill. ; 20 x 25 cm.
ISBN: 9781452875668; 1452875669
My annotation: Told in both the first and third person, this is the story of Jonathan and his two moms. When one day at school, someone asks him what his parents do for a living, he tells them what his moms do. “But where’s your dad?” the other child asks, and Jonathan does not know what to say. At home he asks, “Do I have a Daddy?” to which his moms reply: “...love makes a family, yes it’s true/Love makes a family - me and you/There’s nothing better we could have done/We always knew that you were the one!” The next page features the “Family Fertility Center” about which his parents begin to explain how a “nice young man … donated his sperm,” which a doctor mixed with “our eggs.” Although the book introduces the terms, “sperm,” “egg,” “embryo,” and “donate,” the part about mixing the sperm with “our eggs” might have to be explained as the book’s attempt at rhyme is confusing in parts: “The doctor mixed our eggs with the sperm/Which stayed in a dish for a very short term.” Still, this is an introduction to sperm donation and in vitro fertilization for young children with two mothers. This book takes a family-building approach and employs the “families are made differently” and a little bit of “the helper” script. Full -color illustrations depict a multi-racial lesbian couple. Recommended for ages 3-5.
Library of Congress Subject Headings:
- Children of gay parents -- Pictorial works -- Juvenile fiction
- Lesbian mothers -- Pictorial works -- Juvenile fiction
- Conception -- Pictorial works -- Juvenile fiction
Available: https://www.createspace.com/3454840
Daddy Dog and Papi Panda's rainbow family
written and illus. by Anthony Hale
Language: English
CreateSpace, 2012.
33 pp. : col. ill. ; 22 x 22 cm.
ISBN: 9781475090888; 1475090889
My annotation: Daddy Dog and Papi Panda were just Mr. Dog and Mr. Panda until the day they received a call about a child monkey who was awaiting a family. Daddy Dog climbed aboard a plane and traveled very far in order to retrieve Mikey the Monkey and so the loving family - formally two - became a family of three. Then one day, Miss Cat announces that she’d like to carry a kitten for Daddy Dog and Papi Panda, but she did not have one kitten, or even two. She had three kittens and so their family of three expanded to a family of six. This is the story of how a two-dad family was built via adoption and surrogacy. It takes a family-building approach and employs the “helper” script. Recommended for children ages 3-5.
Available: https://www.createspace.com/3833939
Zak's safari : a story for donor-conceived kids of two-mom families
by Christy Tyner
illus. by Ciaee
Language: English
CreateSpace, 2014.
33 p. : col. ill. ; 22 x 22 cm.
ISBN: 9781502325464 ; 1502325462
My annotation: Narrated by a young boy, this is the story of how Zak’s family was made with the help of donor sperm. Zak takes the reader on a brief tour of how babies are made with sperm and egg, but explains that his parents didn’t have the sperm required because only men’s bodies have sperm and he has two moms. Zak explains how his parents visited a sperm bank and chose sperm from a catalog, making this the very first children’s book to describe the process of selecting sperm from a catalog. Zak also teaches his readers about “genes,” which carry secret instructions for how babies are to look as well. Zak’s tour of how babies are made is not as detailed as that in It takes love … but this is not a drawback. Zak explains just enough for his young readers to grasp early concepts around sperm donation. The book takes both a family-building approach and a child-conception approach because it explains the most basic details of how babies are made, while at the same time emphasizing that all families are made differently and that this is the way his family was made. The book employs the “helper” and the “nuts & bolts” scripts and is recommended for children ages 3-5.
Library of Congress Subject Headings:
- Sperm banks -- Juvenile fiction
- Artificial insemination -- Juvenile fiction
- Lesbian mothers -- Juvenile fiction
Available: http://www.zaks-safari.com/
Available: https://www.createspace.com/4992334
The pea that was me : a two moms' sperm donation story
written and illus. by Kimberly Kluger-Bell
Language: English
CreateSpace, 2014.
23 p. : col. ill. ; 22 x 22 cm.
ISBN: 1495290042 ; 9781495290046
My annotation: Written by a licensed marriage and family therapist who specializes in fertility counseling, this is a book with a child narrator, represented by a baby pea, who explains how her two moms had her via donor sperm. She begins the story by asking the question, “where did the pea that was me come from?” They tell her that two things are required: eggs and sperm, which must be put together in order to grow a baby inside a mommy’s tummy. The narrator goes on to explain though that her moms didn’t have any sperm, without which you can’t make a baby, so they went to a doctor who told them “there was a very kind man who had lots of extra sperm” and would be happy to share it. So the doctor put the sperm from the man together with one of her mommy’s eggs and a baby pea started to grow. The book introduces several vocabulary words to young children: “sperm,” “egg,” and “donor,” as well as the concept that a doctor’s help was required in order for the baby pea that “finally came to be.” The book takes a child-conception approach and employs the “nuts & bolts” and the “helper” scripts. Recommended for children ages 3-5.
Available: https://www.createspace.com/4631754
The pea that was me : a two dads' egg donation and surrogacy story
written and illus. by Kimberly Kluger-Bell
Language: English
CreateSpace, 2014.
17 p. : col. ill. ; 22 x 22 cm.
ISBN: 1499746695 ; 9781499746693
My annotation: This book, about egg donation and surrogacy in two-dad families, is part of the Pea that was me series written by licensed marriage and family therapist, Kimberly Kluger-Bell. It is not so much a story as it is a very simple explanation of how “the pea that was me finally came to be!” The child narrator, a green pea, explains to her readers that it takes eggs, sperm, and a tummy in order to make a baby pea. When the egg and sperm are put together inside a “lady’s tummy,” a pea gets “bigger and bigger and bigger” until it grows into a baby. She explains however that her dads did not have any eggs, nor did they have a tummy, so they visit a doctor who knew “a very kind lady” who had eggs, and “another nice lady” who would “be happy to carry their baby pea!” The book introduces very young children to the words, “eggs,” “sperm,” “donor,” and “surrogate,” and would be suitable for children ages 3-5 since it provides the most basic explanation for how babies are made. The book takes a child conception approach and employs both the “helper” and the “nuts & bolts” scripts.
Available: https://www.createspace.com/4834676
Gal and Noa's daddies
by Shosh Pinkas
illus. by Julia Philipone-Erez
Language: English
CreateSpace, 2013
21 p. : col. ill. ; 22 x 22 cm.
ISBN: 1494442531; 9781494442538
My annotation: Gal and Noa are twins. When Gal wants to play daddies on the playground, she is derided by a little girl who tells her there is no such thing as a two-daddy family. Gal corrects her and says that “it’s just like our family.” Another child chimes in however and says that families can’t have more than one dad and that boys can’t marry boys. Then another child chimes in and says that her cousins have two moms. Now the kids on the playground are confused as they have never heard of such a thing. They have questions for Gal and Noa like who does what chores, and what do you call them? When they get home that night they ask their dads how they were born and their dads proceed to tell them how you need a “woman’s teeny egg and a man’s tiny seed” to make a baby, as well as a mommy’s tummy and because they didn’t have a mommy’s tummy, they needed a little help from doctors, an egg donor, and a surrogate. The doctors helped the egg meet the seed and a “nice lady” in India agreed to carry their babies. (Israel prohibits surrogacy for gay men so gay men must commission surrogates outside of Israel). This is the true story of two gay men in Israel who wanted to build their family via surrogacy. It is written by the grandmother of the twin girls who were conceived via surrogacy. Although this book serves as an introduction to surrogacy, it never introduces the term “surrogate,” nor are the words sperm or egg donor used. Rather, it is the story of how two men loved each other and wanted to have children. This book takes a family-building approach and employs the “helper” script. The story is told in a rhyme that works and is recommended for children ages 3-5.
Library of Congress Subject Headings:
- Children of gay parents -- Juvenile fiction
- Gay fathers -- Juvenile fiction
- Conception -- Juvenile fiction
Available: https://www.createspace.com/4566217
The twin kangaroo treasure hunt : [a gay parenting story]
by Carmen MartÃnez Jover
illus. by Rosemary MartÃnez
Language: English
Carmen MartÃnez Jover, 2013.
24 p. : col. ill. ; 22 x 22 cm.
ISBN: 607006545X ; 9786070065453
My annotation: Jack and Sam, a gay kangaroo couple, want very much to have their own twins after seeing little kangaroos all around them at a visit to the fair. They decide to pay Wise William a call to get his advice. Wise William pulls out a scroll from his trunk that lists the three things needed for a “Twin Kangaroo Treasure Hunt:” sperm, eggs, and a womb. They know they already have the sperm, but they will need the eggs and a womb, so they go see Kind Kamila and Sweet Susan who both readily agree to give Jack and Sam what they need. Having obtained the final two ingredients, they visit Wise William once more who tells them to go see Dr. Good Gotunda who knows how to mix the ingredients together in order to make a set of twins. It is not clear here that twins are not guaranteed every time a doctor mixes sperm and egg together in a “test tube” but still, two embryos are fertilized and both are placed in Sweet Susan’s pouch. This book is an introduction for the children created via donor egg and surrogacy and introduces the terms “egg donor” and “surrogate.” The book takes a child-conception approach and employs the “helper” script. Recommended for children ages 3-5.
Library of Congress Subject Headings:
- Kangaroos -- Behavior -- Pictorial works -- Juvenile fiction
- Parental behavior in animals -- Pictorial works -- Juvenile fiction
- Homosexuality -- Juvenile fiction
Available: http://www.amazon.com/Twin-Kangaroo-Treasure-Parenting-Story/dp/607006545X
The story of our family : a book for lesbian families with children conceived by donor insemination
by Petra Thorn and Lisa Green
illus. by Tiziana Rinaldi
Language: English
Mörfelden : FamART-Verlag, 2013.
15 p. : col. ill. ; 21 cm. x 21 cm.
ISBN: 9783981141030
My annotation: This is the story of a Mommy and Mama who loved each other very much and wanted to have a baby, so the women go to see a doctor who helps couples have children. At this point, there are two page 8's, one describing self-insemination with a known donor (“They knew a man who was happy to give them sperm.”) and one describing insemination with an unknown donor (“The doctor put the sperm from a nice man into Mommy’s tummy.”) You can skip over one or the other depending on your own insemination experience. This book is written by two Ph.D’s, with a combined experience of over forty years working as family therapists, one of whom is a lesbian mother herself via DI. It is a simple story which, when read to your child, provides room for you to tell your own family story. The book also introduces children to the words, “sperm,” and “egg” (“Babies grow when the egg from a woman and a sperm from a man come together.”). This book takes a family-building approach and employs the “labor of love” and “the helper” scripts. Full-color professional illustrations render a very happy couple, a doctor, and a donor even though the word “donor” is not introduced. Recommended for children ages 3-5.
Available: http://www.famart.de/kinderbuecher/
Special man
written and illustrated by Yevgeniya Kanterezhi
Language: English
Lulu, c2012.
16 p. : col. ill. ; 22 x 28 cm.
ISBN: 9781105630033
My annotation: Special man is about two women who “loved each other very much” and wanted to start a family. The “special man” referred to in the book is the sperm donor who provided his “special seed” so that these two women could have children of their own. Throughout the book there is a strong sense of gratitude for this act of kindness on the donor’s part although the words “sperm” and “donor” are not used in the book, rather “special seed” and “special man” are used throughout. The child-like drawings depict real people, are in color and hand drawn by the author, and picture a loving family throughout.The donor is depicted as a man with a smile on his face. The book is autobiographical, written for the author’s children, specifically a boy and a girl, but would be suitable for other lesbian couples who also built their family through sperm donation. At one point in the book, the author’s son asks why he does not have a mommy and a daddy like his friend Mary, but it is explained to him that all families are “different” and “unique.” This book takes a family-building approach and employs the “helper” and “families are different” scripts. Recommended for children ages 3-5.
Available: http://www.lulu.com/shop/yevgeniya-kanterezhi/special-man/paperback/product-20077666.html
Why I'm So Special: A Book about Surrogacy with Two Daddies
by Carla Lewis Long
illustrated by Tyler Simone Newman
edited by Bryna Jean-Marie
Language: English
AuthorHouse, 2011
40 p. ; col. ill. ; 22 x 22 cm.
ISBN: 9781468500073; 1468500074
My annotation: Narrated by the daughter of a gay couple, the unnamed child recounts the story of how her two daddies met in college, fell in love, got married, and wanted to start a family. She explains that the only way her daddies could have a baby of their own was through the help of a “special doctor” and a surrogate. Surrogates, she tells us, “are very special ladies who can carry babies in their tummies for daddies.” The two men visit an agency and are introduced to Polly, who would agree to become their surrogate. After a trip for all three to Paris, they go back to the special doctor who puts the “baby in Polly’s tummy so that it could start to grow.” Whose sperm is used is not mentioned. Nor is it mentioned whether an egg donor was used or whether the surrogate used her own egg. Nonetheless, the surrogate gives birth to a baby girl and the surrogate hands over the child to her two daddies. This book takes a family building approach and employs the “helper” script. The very good illustrations are by a nine-year-old child. Recommended for ages 3-5 because it is a very cursory introduction to surrogacy.
Available: http://www.carlalewislong.com
Available: http://www.amazon.com/Why-Im-So-Special-Surrogacy/dp/1468500074
