The Ordinary Extraordinary blog
The Ordinary Extraordinary blog
A children's book for alternative families
We were very glad to discover something wonderful this week. Sarah Corner of Melbourne, Australia—“a qualified Early Childhood Educator, mother and author” has used the crowdsourcing site Pozible to raise funds for a children’s book about a form of polyamorous family. As her page there explains, “Sarah has a particular interest in writing for poly and queer families, split families and other unconventional family structures. [She] lives with her very own wonderfully unique family in the inner northern suburbs of Melbourne.”
As for the types of families that are under-represented in children’s books, she asks, “…what about the children of my gay and poly friends? What about families with step-parents that actually get along? What about families with a surrogate or a donor? Where are the books for the single mums share-housing together? Or families with a transgendered parent or child?” So she decided to write one: “Raf and the Robots.”
About the book: “Set in a deliberately ambiguous unconventional family, young Raf learns about getting his timing right. The family in the book could represent a number of real family situations—a poly family, a couple with a donor or surrogate, a blended family with an involved ex, sisters living together, or many other configurations. The book was written with the belief that all children should be able to see their families depicted in the stories around them.”
Corner explains, “This book is based on my family but I don't want to influence how you read it by talking too much about that. My hope is that different families will read it in ways that are meaningful to them.”
We encourage you to visit her Pozible page—and further information can be found on her Stories for Unique Families Facebook page.
Monday, September 1, 2014