Religion and LGBTQ equality are often portrayed as opposing forces, but the fact is, there are many queer people and families of all faiths—and many congregations that welcome them. A new picture book offers children a colorful and festive look at an inclusive church.
A Church for All
In an Author’s Note, Pitman explains that she was inspired by her own encounter with Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco. She gives a short history of the church, including its commitment to social justice and welcoming LGBT people. She also explains that many congregations now embrace the same vision and are often called Inclusive Churches or Open and Affirming Churches. The church in the story is shown as non-denominational, however, making it widely applicable.
Adults reading this with children should be aware of one thing, however. On several pages, Pitman lists the contrasting types of people who attend the church, including “Weak and healthy … Poor and wealthy.” For the first couplet, the focus of the page is a man pushing a child in a wheelchair, who is happily greeting a standing friend. It’s true that those who are weak from illness may need wheelchairs—but people with disabilities, even in wheelchairs, can be very strong. I don’t think Fournier or Pitman would disagree—but it’s not clear from the picture whether the boy is sick (and might thus be “weak”) or has a disability and could still be strong. Readers can, of course, make their own determinations of who is weak and who strong in the picture—but given the way people with disabilities are often portrayed in our culture, I worry that many will jump to the conclusion that it is the boy in the wheelchair who is “weak” and contrasted with “healthy.” Additionally, the page also shows a woman with a headwrap indicative of cancer treatment. (She’s shown with a cane on another page.) She could thus be the “weak” person in the image—but many people fighting serious illness are the strongest people I know—albeit not physically. I think “Sick and healthy” or “Ill and healthy” (to avoid pejorative connotations of “sick”) might have been a better wording (along with an image of someone blowing their nose, rather than someone in a wheelchair). This isn’t a showstopper for the book, because it’s all open to readers’ interpretation of the images, but parents and teachers might want to be prepared to discuss the images with children and have them question their assumptions about what it means to be ill, healthy, weak, and strong.
Also, the author’s note refers to “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people.” “Transgender” is the preferred term these days. Pitman, when notified about this on Twitter, called her book’s usage a “serious glaring error” and apologized. She said it was a word she would never use, but that somehow got through without being caught by either her or an editor. [Update, 12:49 p.m., 5/1/2018: A publicist from Albert Whitman & Co. tells me “it will be fixed in the next reprint…. And we’re working to get a note from the author/editor posted on our blog asap, as well as an errata placed in all stock in our warehouse.”]
A Church for All fills a gap in LGBTQ-inclusive children’s literature with its celebration of diverse Christian families and the welcoming churches that offer them community and spiritual sustenance. For children, it will convey a sense that these churches can be affirming and fun places to be; for adults, it joyously undercuts religious conservatives’ argument that religion and LGBTQ identity are incompatible, and it may help alleviate the pain from churches that have not been so accepting. Families of all faiths and structures should welcome it onto their shelves.
The number of LGBTQ-inclusive children’s books that portray families of specific faiths is small, but here are a few:
- The Christmas Truck
, by J. B. Blankenship, about a child as he prepares for Christmas with his two dads and tries to help another family. Christmas is obviously a Christian tradition, although the book focuses on the secular side of the occasion.
- Santa’s Husband
, by Daniel Kibblesmith, reimagines the jolly old elf as Black and married to his husband, who helps him prepare reindeer, elves, and more for Christmas.
- The Flower Girl Wore Celery
involves a girl’s mistaken assumptions about both her dress and the couple getting married at her cousin’s Jewish wedding. (My full review here.)
- The Purim Superhero
, by Elizabeth Kushner, is about a boy (who happens to have two dads) as he tries to find the perfect costume for the Jewish holiday of Purim.
- In Yetta and the Fantastic Mom Suits
, by Jano Oscherwitz, a girl with two moms gets to try being them for a day, with the help of a magical dybbuk, a creature from Jewish folklore. Yiddish expressions are sprinkled throughout the book.
- Adopting Ahava, by Jennifer Byrne,
tells of a boy who was adopted by two Jewish mamas and is excited about adopting a puppy of his own.
- The Wonderful Adventures of Benjamin and Solomon
, by Elena Yakubsfeld, tells of two Jewish students and study partners in medieval Europe, who shelter from a blizzard by calling on their teacher’s friend, but end up having a series of adventures involving dragons, a lot of prayer, and some younger children. The illustrations by Wie Guan are lovely, but this is too wordy for young children (the publisher said in a press release that it’s aimed at young adults) and too narratively clunky to be recommended, even if it is well intended.
- Chag Sameach! (Happy Holiday!)
, by Patricia Schaffer, a book about Jewish holidays, may have shown a two-mom family back in 1985.
- Lesléa Newman, the grande dame of LGBTQ-inclusive children’s books and author of Heather Has Two Mommies (which has no religious bent), has also written numerous books celebrating Jewish culture, including Here Is the World: A Year of Jewish Holidays
(about which more here). While it doesn’t feature an obviously queer family, it has a broad message of inclusion that many will appreciate.
- The latest collection from Flamingo Rampant includes The Last Place You Look, by j wallace skelton, in which two lesbian bubbies (grandmothers) host a Passover seder for their grandchildren and other family members; Moondragon in the Mosque Garden, by El-Farouk Khaki and Troy Jackson, in which three Muslim children encounter a magical creature on Eid al-Fitr and learn a lesson about caring for the Earth; and Rachel’s Christmas Boat, by Sophie Labelle, in which a child whose parent has just come out as transgender cleverly solves the problem of changing the name on the parent’s Christmas gift.
- And the recent, adorable Harini & Padmini Say Namaste
, by Amy Maranville, explains yoga as “an ancient Hindu form of worship” as we see Padmini’s two moms taking her to yoga class. (Padmini, though not her moms, also appears in Padmini Is Powerful
, which introduces readers to Hindu gods: Padmini is wise like Ganesha, generous like Lakshmi, and energetic like Parvati.)
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