BIBLIOGRAPHY
Polacco, Patricia.
2009. IN OUR MOTHERS' HOUSE. New
York: The Penguin Group. ISBN 9780399250767
PLOT SUMMARY
IN OUR MOTHERS' HOUSE is a story told by an African-American
girl (her name is never given) who is adopted as an infant by two women, known
affectionately as Marmee and Meema. The
family is made complete with the addition of her adopted brother, Will (of
Asian-American decent) and adopted sister, Millie (Caucasian decent). Set in Berkeley, California, the young narrators
tells of the family's everyday life experiences, lively holiday celebrations, and neighborhood
gatherings. However, one neighbor, Mrs.
Lockner doesn't want her children to
associate with this multicultural family.
The children learn that families can look different, but the most common
thread in all of them should be love and acceptance.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This book chronicles the story of two women choosing to
build a family and raise them in a household full of love. The women's homosexuality is not the focus of
this story; instead, the message that prevails is one of familial love and
support. As children turn the pages of
this book, they see this blended family participating in everyday activities
other families take part in: sitting by the fireplace telling stories,
trick-or-treating around the neighborhood streets, and playing in the backyard
tree house. The pencil-sketch and watercolor illustrations
depict the family's happiness and love.
The characters are seen happily playing and running carefree. Young readers receive the message that
nontraditional families can be just as loving and caring as traditional
families. This point is driven home when
the narrator states "There wasn't a day in my life that I didn't feel
deeply loved and wanted by Meema and Marmee.
Our mothers were willing to do anything for us. We knew that."
Although most people in the neighborhood are supportive of
the family, one woman is not: Mrs.
Lockner. The author describes how the
Lockner kids are invited to play in the tree house, but their parents quickly
take them away: "They barely spoke to us... They just plain didn't like
us, I guessed. I couldn't quite
understand why. We always tried to be
respectful and friendly, the way our mothers taught us to be." Mrs. Lockner's disapproval of the women's
lifestyle and family comes to a head at the neighborhood party when she angrily
confronts and screams at the two women, "I don't appreciate what you two are!" Having witnessed this tense exchange, Millie
asks her mother why Mrs. Lockner lashed out at them. Meema explains to her children "She's
full of fear, sweetie. She's afraid of
what she cannot understand: she doesn't understand us." Marmee adds that "there seems to be no
love in her heart, either." Thus,
young audience members begin to realize that not everyone is acceptable or
comfortable seeing blended families in which parents are of the same-sex. The mothers' explanations to their children
expose a hard truth; one that many are not willing to admit to.
While this book presents a loving story about a lesbian
couple raising a blended family, it feels as if the author tried too hard to
present a perfect story. On nearly every
page, all of the characters are smiling from ear to ear. Even the neighborhood dogs and cats are smiling! While the message the author wants to get
across to young readers is that nontraditional families can be just as loving
as others, the illustrations feel like overkill in presenting readers how happy
life can be. Another concern I had with
this story is how the author seems to sweep the incident between Meema and
Marmee and Mrs. Lockner under the rug.
No mention is made about how the family handles the tense confrontation
or how the children were affected. It
seems that life goes on for them. I
think it would have been much more meaningful if the author had build in a
conversation the two mothers have with their children, describing to them that
there may be people who do not understand their family, but it doesn't change
the fact that they are still loved and cared for.
Finally, one of the drawbacks of the story is found in the
illustrations that seem to confirm the stereotype of lesbians and lesbian
couples. The women are drawn as brawny
and masculine looking, with short cropped hair and wearing men's clothing. This is further emphasized when the narrator
describes how the mothers begin to prepare for a mother-daughter tea party they
will host in their home. After she tells her mothers they will need to wear
long dresses for the special occasion, she notes "Meema and Marmee looked
at each other and shrugged. We had never
seen either of them in a dress... ever!"
Young readers may interpret these illustrations to mean that lesbians
always have short hair and do not dress in a feminine way. I fear that these pictures will solidify the stereotypical
beliefs other may have instead of breaking down those barriers.
REVIEWS
THE BULLETIN OF THE CENTER FOR
CHILDREN'S BOOKS: "Polacco's distinctive pencil and marker illustrations
abound with strong, warm-toned colors, softened by the pencil linework, and
smiling faces; facial expressions are at once goofy and joyful, and the
multitudes of loose-limbed characters create a general sense of ebullience and
cheer. Unfortunately, the lack of coherent storyline and overdose of sweetness
make the narrative an uneven and text-heavy stroll down a very selective memory
lane. The didacticism is only heightened when the family is confronted by an
evil neighbor (identifiable by her grumpy expression, the only such face in the
book) who doesn't accept them, whereupon the narrator immediately asserts that
"there wasn't a day in my life I didn't feel deeply loved and wanted by
Meema and Marmee."
KIRKUS: "Unfortunately, while this ambitious
picture book seeks to offer an inclusive vision of family, it ultimately comes
up short. Meema and Marmee's eldest daughter offers a sweeping narrative about
three children embraced by their loving, interracial, adoptive family and
multicultural community, with their "mothers' house" at the center of
it all. It is outside of this safe haven that the children face overt and
neatly contained homophobia in the character of one bad apple, who declares, "I
don't appreciate what you two are!" The distillation of hate into a single
character undermines the reality of systematic oppression faced by same-sex
couples... There is a desperate need for books that present queer families as
just another part of the American quilt, but this title, despite its obvious
good intentions, doesn't do it."
CONNECTIONS
* Have students read similar stories detailing families with
same-sex parents:
Garden, Nancy.
2004. MOLLY'S FAMILY. ISBN
9780374350024
Newman, Leslea. 2011.
DONOVAN'S BIG DAY. ISBN 9781582463322
Oelschlager, Vanita. 2010. A TALE OF TWO DADDIES. ISBN 9780981971452
Oelschlager, Vanita. 2010.
A TALE OF TWO MOMMIES. ISBN 9780982636664
Setterington, Ken. 2004.
MOM AND MUM ARE GETTING MARRIED.
ISBN 9781896764849
