this book is an historical triumph for freedom of press and a landmark work for advancing discussions about non-traditional families.

read the amazon reviews for details.

it depicts a boy's open-minded observations of his parents' separation and his dad's new life with a male partner. you could easily substitute all images of the new male partner with a woman and it would be a totally acceptable (non-homophobia-inducing) book addressing the realities of family change and divorce.

you would be surprised by how benign the actual content is relative to peoples' frenzy.

Doesn't appear to the be on the shelves in Wasillla, but is available via inter-library loan from Talkeetna, 70 miles away.

http://ibistro.matsulibraries.org/uhtbin/cgisirsi.exe/pVUhQIb8y3/BL/249660027/123

"Ms. Chase read the book, which helps children understand homosexuality..."

Why do four- to eight-year-olds need to understand homosexuality or, rather, what do they need to understand about homosexuality? It is appropriate to tell the little nippers that homosexual acts do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity and consequently can result in serious emotional and physical problems wholly apart from the offense other people take or the "frenzy" they engage in?

'Cause that's a whole 'nother book entirely.

@Jamie
I don't think the book is designed to delve into what being a homosexual is about but how as a child, you see and deal with the differences in parental roles would be over heterosexual parents.

Then again I've never read the book, but what 4-8 year old heterosexual books deal with actual sex acts?

And your statement as a question blasting what you see homosexuality behavior is, can be taken as borderline offensive/homo-phobic. If you'd like to correct my interpretation please do.

Pat,

You're welcome to interpret however you choose. I simply repeated librarian Chase's statement that the book "helps children understand homosexuality" and inquired why this was something a child age 4-8 needed to know.

With regard to my "blasting" homosexual behavior: nonsense. "Homosexual acts do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity" is a statement of biological fact. It's also a statement taken from Catholic Catechism, though it's not a matter of faith but of reason. As far as the emotional and physical problems related to such acts, they're sadly well documented. Avert your eyes and inveigh against me if you wish, but that won't change a thing.

I'm going to weigh in here and say that while I don't think every child HAS to know about homosexual relationships at such a young age, I think it is entirely appropriate to have such books available.

I applaud that there is a tool out there to help parents explain to curious children what it means when they see that their friend has parents of the same sex. There are similar books out there to explain why some of their friends may not celebrate Christmas, or have the same skin color as their parents, or even what it means if someone they know has cancer.

These remain serious issues that children, sometimes very young children, are exposed to, and I'm glad that books are out there to help teach them. That is, after all, what books are for.