Children's books have come a long way, but maybe not quite far enough as The Book Doctor had to work extra hard to find LGBT-friendly books that reflect the reality of our lives today for younger children
Wanted! More children's books that include characters in same-sex relationships. Photograph: Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images
My niece and her partner spend a lot of time with our children. Our seven and nine-year-old daughters know all about "happily ever after" but I don't think they have any models of that applying in same-sex relationships. I'd like to find some books with positive images of such relationships for them and some picture books on the same subject for our five-year-old son. Are there any?
In reflecting a wide range of lives, children's books have come a very long way in the last fifty years. In Mary Hoffman's The Great Big Book of Families, for example, a compendium of stories with its engaging and witty illustrations by Ros Asquith, families of all kinds are celebrated with equal zest and understanding in one volume that is perfect for any family to share. But maybe not far enough as it still seems hard to find fiction for younger readers which includes friends or relatives in same sex relationships. While there are now many books for teens which centre on them and also a fair number of picture books, there are not so many for the readers in between. In the UK a lovely example of a delightful older female couple is in John Boyne's The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket. Boyne mentions it but makes nothing special of it but their existence would quietly show your daughters that there is a happy ever after.
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