This collection from Rebel Girls profiles 25 father-daughter pairs, giving each a one-page profile and a joyful facing-page illustration. While the book includes families of many types, the introduction is by musician and gay dad Lance Bass, and two of the profiles include out queer people.
One profile is of Italian daughter and dad Alba and Luca Trapanese. Alba was born with Down Syndrome. Her birth mother had placed her for adoption, but “Other families didn’t think they could care for Alba because of her disability.” Luca, a gay man, knew that Italy’s laws made it difficult for him to become a parent—but he had volunteered at nonprofits organizations for people with disabilities for many years, and “knew he could provide an excellent home for a child with a disability.” He applied to adopt Alba and was accepted, and today, he speaks out for kids with disabilities, single dads, and gay parents.
The book, however, refers to Alba’s birth mother as having “put her up for adoption,” although the usage guidelines from the National Council for Adoption in the U.S. recommend avoiding that phrasing, suggesting “placed for adoption” instead. (The book also refers to Alba as having “Down’s Syndrome,” which may strike U.S. readers as odd, since the National Down Syndrome Society’s guidelines use “Down Syndrome,” but “Down’s Syndrome” is correct usage in the U.K., and Rebel Girls distributes its volumes globally, so I’ll put that down to a style difference rather than an error.)
The second queer-inclusive profile is of NBA star Dwayne and his daughter Zaya. Although “people had told her she was a boy,” Zaya “knew deep in her heart that she was actually a girl.” She came out to her parents and has always had her dad’s support. He has stood up for her against haters on social media and has helped nurture her growing career in fashion.
The rest of the profiles, while not of LGBTQ people, nevertheless offer a range of other identities, places of origin, and fields of impact, including business, art, music, medicine, sports, conservation, and more, showing how dads have often encouraged and inspired their daughters (and even learned a few things in return). A diverse and celebratory collection.
