A Girl and Her Moms Go to South Africa in New Kids’ Book

A girl and her two moms travel to South Africa in a new children’s book, the second of a series featuring this Black family—and adding some much-needed color to LGBTQ-inclusive picture books.

In Keesha’s South African Adventure, by real-life couple Cheril N. Clarke and Monica Bey-Clarke, the titular Keesha is excited to learn about South Africa in school, and begs her moms to take her there. On her next birthday, they surprise her with a trip, and she learns about South African animals, food, and landmarks. The fact that she has two moms is completely irrelevant to the story, which focuses on the anticipation of the trip, the adventure of exploring a new country, and the excitement of sharing the tale with classmates upon her return.

The book is a sequel to the authors’ 2011 book Keesha and Her Two Moms Go Swimming, another slice-of-life adventure about the family. Julia Selyutina’s bright illustrations give this second book even more vibrancy than the first Keesha tale.

It’s great to see a series featuring an LGBTQ family of color; such books are few and far between, although the reality is that same-sex couples of color are about twice as likely as White same-sex couples to be raising children. Keesha’s classmates also all appear to be people of color; in fact, the only White people in the book are (as near as I can tell) a couple of tourists seen distantly in one scene. This feels refreshing—there have been plenty of LGBTQ-inclusive children’s books where the ratios were the opposite. Families of all colors should read it, either to see themselves reflected or to be reminded that not everyone looks like they do.

A few sentences seem a little stiff, e.g., “An adventure tour through Cango Caves was on their schedule for the fourth day” might have worked better as “They went on an adventure tour through Cango Caves on their fourth day.” But overall, this feels like a story an elementary school girl like Keesha might indeed tell, a series of snapshots about her adventure. I wonder where she and her family will go next?

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