In this early picture book about a family member with AIDS, a boy named Joel talks with his younger sister about their Uncle Michael and all of the things they used to do together, including playing baseball and taking care of the “Tiger Flowers” in their garden. Michael has died from complications of AIDS, but Tara is only three and “doesn’t understand about dying.”
Joel explains that Michael had a “best friend named Peter” who also used to join them for baseball games, but Peter got sick with a disease called AIDS, which makes it easy for them to get “lots of other illnesses”—an accurate description that avoids misleading phrases like “died of AIDS.” Peter was sick for a long time, and then died. Michael kept a photo of him and Peter in his room.
Michael, too, got sick and came to live with Joel and his family. The book has him explain that some of his friends no longer wanted to be near him because he had AIDS, but that one can’t catch AIDS simply by being near someone—another important and accurate point.
After Michael dies, Joel turns to his mother for support, and also finds comfort in memories of the times he had with Michael.
While the description of Michael and Peter’s relationship feels coy by modern standards, the book nevertheless conveys Michael’s grief at losing him. It also shows a queer person who is an active part of the lives of children in his extended family, and loved by them in turn.
