Summary of Book Reviews

After the entire process of the book reviews, I reflected on thress specific aspects of my experience. The first thing I mentioned were the ideas that were common throughout all three books that I reviewed. Then I reflected on what I hoped to find when searching for GLBTQ picture books prior to my reviewing process. Lastly, I discussed the actual experience I had when searching for GLBTQ picture books.

One theme I noticed in each book was the presentation of the idea that there is a variety of family types. Each book compared the homosexual-parented familis to other family types throughout the stories. I also noticed all of the homosexual individuals presented in the picture books were the parents of the child focused on throughout the book. This somewhat left me, as a reader, with the thought that a homosexual relationship was not worth discussing unless there was a child involved that the readers may believe to be impacted by the family relationship.

When first attempting to search for text , I obviously hoped to find a wide range and variety of GLBTQ picture books. I was sure that the increased dicussion of diversity in schools would also have an impact on published picture books. I was also hoping to find an age range of homosexual individuals represented in picture books. This was in hopes that children would not assume only adults are homosexuals and would therefore become more accepting of their homosexual peers in the future.

Lastly, the actual outcome of my GLBTQ picture book search was quite different than I had hoped for it to go. The first book store, a small book store at the local mall, claimed to have GLBTQ picture books mixed in with other books. However, no books were found and no specific section was labeled GLBTQ literature. The second book store, a much larger store located in tha smae mall, staff first directed me to the "emotions" section in the picture books area, claiming that was where GLBTQ texts would be located. After searching three shelves about natural bodily functions, no books were found. At the help desk, one employee was able to look up a GLBTQ book she had heard of in a prior MSU teacher education course. That same book store clerk ordered two books that she found for me, to be special delivered to the store. I then turned to the online bookstores in order to locate more books. This proved to be a lot more efficient due to the fact that I could search several stores simultaneously. I was most able to find GLBTQ picture books through online searches in book stores. I was shocked by the lack of GLBTQ picture books in small and large book stores. I was similarly surprised to find some of the staff in the stores had no idea what I was looking for when I asked where the GLBTQ picture books were located in the store! I guess things have not changed in book stores as much as I had hoped!