Queer or Radical Baby Books?

[ChrystalSparkle]

Are there any out there? Help! Specifically... I can find a few good looking books about two mommy or two daddy families- but none that seem very radical- with stories depicting non-nuclear families, or communities who live outside hetero-normative behaviors and culturally normative politics.

Edited by ChrystalSparkle - 10/10/12 at 10:41am

[ChrystalSparkle]

I'm glad there are books showing two mommy and two daddy families who own houses and participate unquestioningly in Capitalistic systems... but I want to share with my baby that there are people doing it differently- Radical and queer families who are working to change the systems so many of us take for granted.. books that maybe touch on the ''systems'' at hand or the fights with which people and communities are engaged.

[prettyisa]

I don't know of any, but we're pretty early on into kids books. Honestly, my guess is that there are going to be very few books that fit that set of guidelines, based purely on the fact that there are so few books of any sort with non-hetero families (and, sadly, even many of those aren't that great). I'm curious to see if there are any out there that fit this mold.

[SplashingPuddle]

I enjoyed the book "10,000 dresses".  It's about a little girl who loves dresses. The adults in the book always use masculine pronouns when talking about her but the narration of her is in the feminine. Ultimately she does meet a friend who accepts her for herself and her love of dresses.

[SplashingPuddle]

"Everywhere Babies" is a great book for babies that depicts a range of families.  It is the only baby book (hard board book) that I know of that is inclusive. Not radical per se, but it does illustrate queer culture to babies.

[mrsandmrs]

She's not queer, but much of Nikki McClure's work speaks to an alternative world view - being in touch with nature, operating outside capitalism, etc, without being heavy-handed or inaccessible. There is an ABCs of Anarchy book that presents an alternative world, but it is also not specifically queer. And, uh, Free to Be You and Me. It feels kind of silly to even mention it, but it's alternative in its own special way. 

This question is interesting. Now I want to read Bedtime Stories with Judith Butler and Rules for Tiny Radicals by Saul Alinksy. (I made them up, don't go looking for them.) 

[outdoorsy]

Splashing - Can you tell us how "Everywhere Babies" illustrates queer culture? I checked it out on Amazon and that wasn't evident at all. Thanks.

[wishin'&hopin']

Outdoorsy--"Everywhere Babies" is actually a favorite at our house.  The text's subject is always babies "everyday, everywhere babies are born...everyday, everywhere babies are fed...everyday everywhere, babies make noise" so it doesn't actually reference any particular family shape.  However, the illustrations are inclusive of pretty much the full range of what families can look like (two exhausted looking women in one illustration, one of whom is rocking a cradle).  It also includes breast feeding as a norm and baby wearing.  So, while I wouldn't call it radical...I would call it quietly subversive ;)

[pokeyAC]

mrs - The thought of Judith Butler writing a book for kids cracked me up!  I see a picture of her on the cover in a rocking chair and a baby's mobile with faces of famous philosophers and feminist theorists on it.  It would put the kid to sleep because trying to read the incomprehensible prose would put it right out.  I have a master's degree in women's studies, and I had a hard time with her writing.  Theory is not my strong suit.

I love all the suggestions.  I am going to add those to the wishlist!

[mrsandmrs]

Oh yes, Auntie Judith wrote all the best baby books:

Goodnight, Foucault.

Very Gender Troubled Caterpillar.

Guess How Much I Love You (in a consensual, empowering, anti-capitalist way)

Where the Wild Things Are Subverting the Dominant Paradigm

[KnittingTigers]

Originally Posted by mrsandmrs 

Oh yes, Auntie Judith wrote all the best baby books:

Goodnight, Foucault.

Very Gender Troubled Caterpillar.

Guess How Much I Love You (in a consensual, empowering, anti-capitalist way)

Where the Wild Things Are Subverting the Dominant Paradigm

This just made my night.

[redrockband]

I love Judith Butler's work. I have referenced it a lot in my paintings. Gender Trouble was like reading another language with I had to translate, but the second time I read it during grad school I got much more out of it. 

Maybe someone needs to start writing some Judith Butler inspired baby books...hmmmm I'll do the art work! :)