Daddy's Roommate

Willhoite, M. (1990). Daddy's roommate. Los Angeles: Alyson Publications.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/imageviewer.asp?ean=9781555831189

Daddy’s Roommate is a great children’s book to display diversity in families. A main point of the story is to open the reader up to the idea of having two fathers but another main crucial point is that gay is just another kind of love. This story is about a boy’s mother and father getting divorced and now the boy’s father has a roommate, which is also a man. This book shows the two men doing everything together, everything that any relationship would do. In the end, the mother explains to the boy that his father might be gay and what exactly “gay” means. The mother says that gay is just another kind of love. The boy sees that his father is happy with this man and so in return, he is happy for him. This little boy easily accepts his father and his father’s relationship with another man. Daddy’s Roommate displays vibrantly colored illustrations and a simple text that a child could easily read with no help.

Yet, still there are concerns of displaying homosexual orientation to a elementary classroom in fear of influencing and changing a child’s own sexual orientation. Parents believe that this issue of homosexuality is best left out of classroom and/or school libraries. However, I believe that this is not an issue but an entire multicultural group that needs to be addressed in the classroom rather than continuously excluded.

Also, there has been dispute about the part of Daddy’s Roommate, which says, “Daddy and his roommate sleep together.” That’s all it says, sleep together-just sleeping in the same bed. A sister, brother, or a friend could sleep together in the same location. Also, some pictures display affection between the two men. Based on this small portion of the text, there is controversy about whether or not this story is appropriate for young children. The main point in these children books is not about the sexuality of the character. These books are meant to help children relate and see the diversity of family make-ups so a child with a similar family doesn’t feel so alone. This book could comfort a concerned student or help any child understand that not all families in today's world are made up the same exact way. The moral of this story, if you see past the sexual orientation, is the love and happiness that this boy in the story receives from all family members. It’s meant to show the diversity of families and how not every family structure is the same.