"One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dad, Blue Dads"

Valentine, Johnny. One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dad, Blue Dads. Los Angeles: Alyson Books, 2004.

"One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dad, Blue Dads" is a story about a little boy with two blue, dads. Throughout the story a little girl questions what it is like to have two blue dads and the boy continuously stresses that his dads are just like any other dad. The ending leads to another unusual type of dad, a green dad!

Although the story presents the idea that the little boy has two dads, I feel the main focus of the story can be confusing due to the fact that the fathers are blue. The little girl in the story is consistenting questioning the boy about his fathers, however the questioning centers around the fact that his fathers are blue. Is it possible that children could misinterpret the idea of two fathers? Maybe they will think if a child has two fathers, they will be different in appearance like the blue dads. Although the book presents the idea that having two dads does not make them different, I feel children could misinterpret the message of this picture book. A similar concern is the image that the illustrations accompanying the text present. On one particular page, one of the fathers is shown wearing an apron and holding a pie because he is the one that cooks. Though the idea behind the book seems to have good intensions, some of the text and illustrations could present stereotypes about gay individuals.