Stella, who has two dads, doesn’t know who to bring as a guest to her class Mother’s Day celebration. A classmate asks what’s wrong, and she explains.
The other children, upon hearing she has no mother, are then puzzled about who does various caretaking tasks in her family. She replies that each dad does some, and other relatives help, too. One child suggests she brings all of them.
Stella thinks about this and works hard on her invitation. At the party, she sees that other children have various family structures; her dads interact with the class and everyone has a good time. At the end, Stella tells her teacher not to worry about Father’s Day, when she won’t bring as many people— “just two.”
I like the that Stella’s “problem” of two dads is simply an interesting challenge and not a cause for dismay, as we’ve seen in some earlier picture books with same-sex parented families. Here, in contrast, Stella can talk with confidence about her family. Notably, too, it is the children who find the solution, with a classmate making a suggestion and Stella deciding to follow up on it. No adult input is given or needed.
A happily affirming tale.
