auflusl2Q. 2004 » jUSt OUt 35
BOOKS
s you check out of your favorite bookstore with all
the latest queer titles before you, you feel a little
tug at your T-shirt. Dad, what about me?
A
Honey, I've pinked
up the kids
Of course! Your little one needs to read, too.
This year offers a crop of lxx)ks for tykes by queer authors
you may (or may not) want to bring home to baby.
First, some bad news: British lesbian author Jeanette
Winterson’s (Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit) first chil
dren’s book is almost as single-layered and riddled with
polarities as the current U.S. president.
Although she is known for her gender-bending and
thoughtfully allegorical novels, The King of Capri (Bkxtmshury,
2003, $16.95 hardcover) is a surprisingly un-Wintersonian tale
in which a baaaad, selfish straight king learns a lesson and mar
ries a gooood, generous straight laundry woman.
It’s mind-boggling, really, why such a brilliant and enonnously
capable writer would produce such a mysteriously uninventive book.
Resting heavily on her own biblical background, Winterson has pro
duced a lazy parable about gluttony and avarice: “ ‘Why have I got
two hands but only one mouth?* ” wondered the King.... ‘Sire, think
of all the poor people in your kingdom....’ But the King never did
think about the poor people. He thought only about himself.”
The story is as conventional and weak as Jane Ray’s accom
panying illustrations are whimsical and bold. Winterson’s god-
child, who prompted the writing of this book, got a bit of a raw
deal, to say the least.
Winterson has been known to compare herself to our leg
endary queer heroine Virginia Woolf, but there is a much better
posthumous jewel out from the literary luminary herself. Nurse
Lugton’s Curtain (Gulliver, 2004, $16 hardcover) was retrieved
from the manuscripts of Woolf’s masterpiece Mrs. Dalloway.
Predictably, there is no queer content, but what a great oppor
tunity to treat kids to this powerful feminist spirit! Magnificently
illustrated, Curtain is a Platoesque tale of animals who exist solely
on the protagonist’s drawing room curtain. They only come to life
when she sleeps: “Over them burnt Nurse Lugton’s golden thim
ble like a sun; and as Nurse Lugton snored, the animals heard the
wind roaring through the forest. Down they went to drink."
The language is lyrical and superb, with plenty of new' words
The ups and downs of new
children’s books by queers
eatincgout
out
by
E ls D ebbaut
for kids to absorb (e.g., quinces, palanquin,
ogress, precipices, chasms).
Peter Ferguson lushly illustrates The Boy
Who Cried Fabulous (Tricycle Press, 2004,
$15.95 hardcover), another picture book by
the heroine of queer kid’s lit, Leslea New
man (Heather Has Two Mommies). The
storyline, rendered in sifnple rhymes, was
inspired by Newman’s good friend Roger.
The book’s subtext is richly tongue in
cheek for even those with only mildly developed gaydar. Our
main character Roger finds everything just a bit too fabulous to
be an ordinary boy. On the very first page, Mom reminds the
gleeful redhead to stop enjoying the journey quite so much:
“Now, Roger, you go straight-straight to class, and don’t be late.”
But it is, of course, in the nature of the kid to be halted by fab
ulous couture in the shops and by other obvious simple pleasures
of life: “What a fabulous purse, it’s simply divine,” pipes Roger.
Eventually, his parents learn that words like “beautiful” or
“stunning” are not, well, fabulous enough for Roger, and they
ultimately embrace their son’s differences.
The recent Poodlena (Bloomsbury, 2004, $16.95 hardcover)
was both penned and drawn by Bay Area lesbian E.B. McHenry,
who’s been getting her illustrations published (Highlights, The
Philadelphia Inquirer) since the age of 5.
McHenry’s rosy debut book intrixluces a hot pink primping
pcxxlle with a giant, cotton candy bouffant and painted toenails:
“It took lots of work and a good bit of spray, To kxtk pretty and
out
out
*
perfect in just rhe right way. She’d fuss
and she’d tweeze, She’d paint and she’d
fluff, She’d powder, perfume, And pink
herself up.”
The meticulously coifed dog inhabits
the elegant top floor of a ritzy apartment
building in the big city. Roger who cried
fabulous could have taught her, but it is a fall in the mud that
ultimately awakens Poodlena Pompadour’s eyes to enjoying life
more (and striving to look perfect less).
Pixxllena seems irrefutably gay, and E.B. Henry confirms that
the dog “might very well be a male expressing his/her feminine
spirit.” But why, then, not be less humdrum and make the dog
male (maybe even have him refer to himself as she)? Wouldn’t
that be much more fabulous? jm
E ls DEBBAUT is a Portland free-lance writer who doesn't sport a
bouffant but is fabulous nonetheless.
m
out
out
out
out
rara
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