Banned children’s book ‘Heather Has Two Mummies’ gets update with equal marriage
Famous children’s book ‘Heather Has Two Mummies’ – which is routinely used to teach children about diversity – has been updated to reflect same-sex marriage.
The book, which features a girl named Heather who has two lesbian mothers, was thought to be “the first lesbian-themed children’s book ever published” when it was released by Lesléa Newman in 1989.
Due to its subject nature, the book is also one of the most commonly challenged and banned books in the US – ranking 11th on American Library Association’s censorship rankings for the 1990s.
However, more than 25 years later, the book has received an update – to reflect that Heather’s parents can now get married.
In the new edition of the book, Heather’s mothers are both shown wearing wedding rings.
Ms Newman told Associated Press: “I don’t specifically say that they’re married but they are.
“I don’t know where I could have smoothly inserted that into the text. That’s not what the story is about. The story is really about Heather.”
She also recounted the original experience of writing the book, when she discovered a lack of material to teach children about different types of families.
Ms Newman said: “After I wrote the book, I sent it to many, many publishers — small presses, large presses. Children’s book presses told me to try lesbian presses.
“Lesbian presses told me to try children’s book presses. Nobody was really interested.”
Deborah Caldwell-Stone of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom said: “It’s the book that brought to the forefront the issues, the conflicts over what materials concerning GLBT-identity lifestyles should be available to young kids.
“It was a time when we were really first acknowledging what we call the culture wars now and the idea that there would be books actually acknowledging that families headed by same-sex parents existed.”
