Love Is Love is a picturebook written by Michael Genhart and illustrated by Ken Min about love. In the story a boy confides in a friend that he doesn’t know what to say when he’s teased for having two dads, and when kids say that they’re not a real family. In their conversation, his friend helps him see how her family (with a mom and a dad) isn’t all that different from his: they both have parents who love them, and they both love their parents. And it’s love that makes a family.
I am not ashamed to say that I teared up reading Love Is Love. The gentle, conversational path to understanding that love is the basis of family, not who makes up that family, is the most important thing as well done. I see so many children judging each other for being different in any number of ways. However, when they use things like family, race, or sexual orientation as the basis of judging I know that they are being taught that different is bad, and it just makes me sad. I love the message of this book, and the simple way the conversation makes it so clear that we are really all the same no matter who are family is, what we look like, or who we love. As long as the love is there, then there is family and support. I like that there are addition support materials at the end of the book to help lead family, classroom, or personal discussion on the subject matter. I think this book could start conversations on so much more on discrimination based on sexuality, but the argument can be used against any kind of discrimination or prejudice.
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