Daddy's Roommate was written and illustrated by Michael Willhoite. This is the book my group chose to do our banned/challenged book study on. This book tells the story of a young boy whose parents are divorced. His dad has a new "roommate." Throughout this book, the boy's mother is explaining things that his daddy and daddy's roommate like to do together. They do such things as cook together, watch TV together, and even fight together, but they always make up. At the end of the book, his mom explains that "Daddy and Frank are gay" and that "being gay is just one more kind of love." This book has large, colorful pictures along with one sentence on each page. It is clearly intended for young children around kindergarten or first grade.I thought this book was the most ridiculous thing I have ever read. Young children in first or second grade don't need to be learning terms such as gay and lesbian. I believe that if it is necessary for a parent to explain these relationships to their children, the book may be a way to show it, but this is not the type a book a child should be picking up for a leisurely read. It is easy to see why this book is banned from most schools and libraries.
1 comment:
This book is far from ridiculous in my opinion. As a teacher it is a great resource to have in the classroom, especially when you have students that come from diverse family backgrounds. In the society we live in today we should be trying to help students understand that being Gay is just one more type of love, and something we should not be judging or discriminating people about. If we choose to ignore these issues we will continue to have students who grow up only exposed to the negative attitudes about issues such as this. I for one fully support the integration of books such as these in Elementary school libraries.
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