Gal and Noa's daddies by Shosh Pinkas illus. by Julia Philipone-Erez Language: English CreateSpace, 2013 21 p. : col. ill. ; 22 x 22 cm. ISBN: 1494442531; 9781494442538 My annotation: Gal and Noa are twins. When Gal wants to play daddies on the playground, she is derided by a little girl who tells her there is no such thing as a two-daddy family. Gal corrects her and says that “it’s just like our family.” Another child chimes in however and says that families can’t have more than one dad and that boys can’t marry boys. Then another child chimes in and says that her cousins have two moms. Now the kids on the playground are confused as they have never heard of such a thing. They have questions for Gal and Noa like who does what chores, and what do you call them? When they get home that night they ask their dads how they were born and their dads proceed to tell them how you need a “woman’s teeny egg and a man’s tiny seed” to make a baby, as well as a mommy’s tummy and because they didn’t have a mommy’s tummy, they needed a little help from doctors, an egg donor, and a surrogate. The doctors helped the egg meet the seed and a “nice lady” in India agreed to carry their babies. (Israel prohibits surrogacy for gay men so gay men must commission surrogates outside of Israel). This is the true story of two gay men in Israel who wanted to build their family via surrogacy. It is written by the grandmother of the twin girls who were conceived via surrogacy. Although this book serves as an introduction to surrogacy, it never introduces the term “surrogate,” nor are the words sperm or egg donor used. Rather, it is the story of how two men loved each other and wanted to have children. This book takes a family-building approach and employs the “helper” script. The story is told in a rhyme that works and is recommended for children ages 3-5. Library of Congress Subject Headings:
Where the northwind blows by Margaret P. Ritter illus. by Karina Wacker Language: English Vienna : Bright Knight Books, 2013. 15 p. : col. ill. ; cm. ISBN: 9783950342017 My annotation: This book is the first children’s book published out of Austria about donor conception. It is written as a fairy tale by a single mother for her daughter and is a warm, loving tribute to the miracle of her daughter’s very existence. It begins as her daughter Sunny, an impatient soul waits to be born, dying to be born, so that she may “let her light shine and … set free all her sparkling vitality on earth among the living.” But she must wait until the right person selects her so that she may be born. The book talks about how the souls of all children are meant to be no matter how they get here and that children must wait until they are “struck by … (the) shooting beam of (the) love” of their parents to be born into the “garden of life.” It hints that a man is needed in order to make a baby but also hints at immaculate conception as Sunny was conceived “without a man so much as touching” her mother. She was conceived in Denmark, the land “where the northwind blows” and the country to which her mother traveled from Austria where the use of sperm donation for single mothers and lesbians is rather liberal. It is an entirely personal story, written by this mother for this child and although it never uses the word “donor” or any of the usual terms associated with assisted conception, the book does however use big words like “bagatelle,” “pristine,” and “joi-de-vivre.” The book presents the “labor of love” script and takes both a family-building and a child-conception approach and ultimately counsels to both children and adults that we have the children we are meant to have. Although the concepts presented here are a bit abstract for younger children, the book was inspired by her three-year-old daughter's question, "Mama, where is my father?" For this reason it is recommended both for children ages 3-5 and 5-8. Simultaneously published in both German and English. Available:http://www.amazon.com/Where-Northwind-Blows-Margaret-Ritter/dp/395034201X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391589987&sr=8-1&keywords=northwind+ritter
Chérubine et la poule qui ne pondait pas by Sabine Debrus illus. by Taylor Brandon Language: French CreateSpace, 2013 39 p. : col. ill. ; 16 x 22 cm. ISBN: 1492796603; 9781492796602 Summary: This book, written for children, is the story of one woman’s fertility journey and of all of the methods of ART she tried until she finally decided to adopt. It conveys one woman’s determination to try absolutely everything to have her own child. The story is told in rhyme, and it is the story of Angelina, a chicken who was despondent because she could not lay any eggs. Along with her angel dog Chérubine, she travels the world for a cure but nothing she tries works for her. Even after failure after failure she does not give up. She is determined to lay her own egg, and one day she finally does, but the egg is cracked. It is therefore not a viable egg. At this point, she does decide to give up, until her chicken friend, Dee, overhears her sadness and decides to take one of the three eggs she is currently laying on and says, ‘Please don’t be blue. I can’t think of a hen who’d be a better mommy than you!” Angelina is overjoyed and hugs the egg to her heart. “Soon the egg hatched and Angelina’s heart filled with joy! For she had a little baby chick, a bouncing baby boy!” This book clearly can be used to begin a discussion of egg donation with a child, but it can be used by any mother who has tried any path to motherhood through any method of ART as the author tried all of them. The book takes a child-conception approach and employs “the helper” and the “labor of love” scripts. There are full-color cartoon drawings and the book is recommended for ages 3-5. Available:https://www.createspace.com/4453674
God wanted me! God created me! written and illus. by Teresa Adams Language: English Mustang, OK : Tate Publishing, 2009. 25 p. : col. ill. ; 15 x 23 cm. ISBN: 9781607999577 My annotation: This book takes a deeply religious approach with a child conceived via sperm or egg donation. Assuming that the child has already been told about their donor conception, this book aims to comfort the child who may feel unsettled by the fact that they do not know their biological parent. Throughout, Bible quotes are strung together and meant to comfort a child by explaining how much God loves him or her and that although he or she may not know or even ever know their biological mother or father, it does not matter as much as knowing that they are God’s child. As the book says, “You will save yourself a lot of time by not being preoccupied with the past and searching for the person who released the egg or sperm that helped to form you.” The text soon ends with this quote from Psalms “Even if my father and mother abandon me, the LORD will hold me close.” (Psalms 27:10). The gist of the book is that you may want to search for your biological parents, but you are better off searching for God, for it was God who truly made you. The book ends with this prayer to God “Today, I choose my future with you and I trust that you will deliver me from feelings of loneliness, incompleteness, anger, rejection, and hurt regarding my biological mother/father.” This book is suitable for both donor-conceived as well as adopted children. There are full color illustrations and the book is recommended for children ages 5-8. Available:https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-60799-957-7
The story of our family : a book for lesbian families with children conceived by donor insemination by Petra Thorn and Lisa Green illus. by Tiziana Rinaldi Language: English Mörfelden : FamART-Verlag, 2013. 15 p. : col. ill. ; 21 cm. x 21 cm. ISBN: 9783981141030 My annotation: This is the story of a Mommy and Mama who loved each other very much and wanted to have a baby, so the women go to see a doctor who helps couples have children. At this point, there are two page 8's, one describing self-insemination with a known donor (“They knew a man who was happy to give them sperm.”) and one describing insemination with an unknown donor (“The doctor put the sperm from a nice man into Mommy’s tummy.”) You can skip over one or the other depending on your own insemination experience. This book is written by two Ph.D’s, with a combined experience of over forty years working as family therapists, one of whom is a lesbian mother herself via DI. It is a simple story which, when read to your child, provides room for you to tell your own family story. The book also introduces children to the words, “sperm,” and “egg” (“Babies grow when the egg from a woman and a sperm from a man come together.”). This book takes a family-building approach and employs the “labor of love” and “the helper” scripts. Full-color professional illustrations render a very happy couple, a doctor, and a donor even though the word “donor” is not introduced. Recommended for children ages 3-5. Available: http://www.famart.de/kinderbuecher/
Mom, Mama, and Me... and How I Came to Be! by Tina Rella illus. by Monica Meza Language: English CreateSpace, 2010. 26 p. : col. ill. ; 20 x 25 cm. ISBN: 9781452875668; 1452875669 My annotation:Told in both the first and third person, this is the story of Jonathan and his two moms. When one day at school, someone asks him what his parents do for a living, he tells them what his moms do. “But where’s your dad?” the other child asks, and Jonathan does not know what to say. At home he asks, “Do I have a Daddy?” to which his moms reply: “...love makes a family, yes it’s true/Love makes a family - me and you/There’s nothing better we could have done/We always knew that you were the one!” The next page features the “Family Fertility Center” about which his parents begin to explain how a “nice young man … donated his sperm,” which a doctor mixed with “our eggs.” Although the book introduces the terms, “sperm,” “egg,” “embryo,” and “donate,” the part about mixing the sperm with “our eggs” might have to be explained as the book’s attempt at rhyme is confusing in parts: “The doctor mixed our eggs with the sperm/Which stayed in a dish for a very short term.” Still, this is an introduction to sperm donation and in vitro fertilization for young children with two mothers. This book takes a family-building approach and employs the “families are made differently” and a little bit of “the helper” script. Full -color illustrations depict a multi-racial lesbian couple. Recommended for ages 3-5. Library of Congress Subject Headings:
Children of gay parents -- Pictorial works -- Juvenile fiction
Lesbian mothers -- Pictorial works -- Juvenile fiction
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