Monday, March 15, 2010
King and King By Linda de Hann and Stern Nijland
This picture book took a classic fairy tale and put a controversial twist on it. The storyline of this book was about a Queen who wanted her son to get married so she could retire. The king met numerous princesses from all over the world but he was not interested in any of them. One day he met another king and it was love at first site. The two kings got married and lived happily ever after. I thought the illustrations in this book were great. These illustrations used a mixture of sketching, collages including newspaper clippings and bright colors. The technique used to make these illustrations reminded me of pop art. I did not find this picture book controversial. I believe that everyone has the right to be an individual. Love is not something that you chose or can hide. I believe that children should learn about the different family structures in our society.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think that this is a great way to bring in the topic of homosexuality into the classroom. I think that it is very common for many homosexuals to be pressured by their parents to be straight. I love that this was a fairytale because it makes being gay seem very normal. It is important to see that homosexuals are not weird people and they are actually very ordinary. I would definitely put this into my classroom. Probably as a read-aloud so that we could discuss it as a class throughout.
ReplyDeleteI have heard of this book, but have not read it. From your description is sounds like a very good, classic fairytale book with a twist. I also think that this book would be wonderful in the classroom, because children do not see being gay as weird or abnormal. It is not until they learn this from society, family, friends, etc... that they pick up on this. By having students read this book early, they may formulate an a positive opinion, before others can influence their negative ones.
ReplyDelete