Jenny lives with Eric and Martin
Encyclopedia
Picture book
A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. The images in picture books use a range of media such as oil paints, acrylics, watercolor and pencil.Two of the earliest books with something like the format picture books still retain now...
by the Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
author Susanne Bösche, published in 1981 in Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
and in 1983 in English. It was perhaps the first English-language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
children's book to discuss homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
.
Plot
The story describes a few days in the life of a five-year-oldChild
Biologically, a child is generally a human between the stages of birth and puberty. Some vernacular definitions of a child include the fetus, as being an unborn child. The legal definition of "child" generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority...
named Jenny, her father, Eric, and his boyfriend Martin who lives with them. Jenny's mother Karen lives nearby and often visits the household.
The book covers such small adventures as
- Jenny, Eric and Martin going to the laundrette together
- Jenny, Martin and Karen preparing a surprise birthdayBirthdayA birthday is a day or anniversary where a person celebrates his or her date of birth. Birthdays are celebrated in numerous cultures, often with a gift, party or rite of passage. Although the major religions celebrate the birth of their founders , Christmas – which is celebrated widely by...
party for Eric - Eric and Martin having a small quarrel and making up
- A woman expressing homophobicHomophobiaHomophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
disgust when passing the family in the street. This is the subject of a later discussion between Eric and Jenny.
Purpose
Bösche has spoken of her motivation in writing the book:Despite these intentions, the book has been categorized as "homosexual propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
" by the tabloid press in the UK, which has led to much of its influence and even notoriety.
Political influence
In 1986 various newspapers reported that a copy of the book was provided in the library of a school run by the LabourLabour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
-controlled Inner London Education Authority
Inner London Education Authority
The Inner London Education Authority was the education authority for the 12 inner London boroughs from 1965 until its abolition in 1990.-History:...
. The resulting controversy made a major contribution towards the then Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
administration's subsequent passing of the controversial Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988
Section 28
Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 caused the controversial addition of Section 2A to the Local Government Act 1986 , enacted on 24 May 1988 and repealed on 21 June 2000 in Scotland, and on 18 November 2003 in the rest of Great Britain by section 122 of the Local Government Act 2003...
, which forbade the "promotion" of homosexuality by local government. (An article about Section 28 in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
of May 29, 1988 notes the then-current notoriety of the book.)
In the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in the 1990s, "Heather Has Two Mommies
Heather Has Two Mommies
Heather Has Two Mommies is a children's book written by Lesléa Newman with Diana Souza's illustrations, first published in 1989. It is about a child, Heather, raised by lesbian women: her biological mother, Jane, who gave birth to her after artificial insemination, and her biological mother's...
" became a similarly politicised book.