Monica Bey-Clarke et Cheril Bey-Clarke se préparaient à adopter. Les deux femmes voulaient pouvoir offrir à leur futur enfant des livres reflétant tout un éventail de réalités familiales et notamment la leur – celle de deux mamans africaines-américaines. Sauf que ces ouvrages-là n’existaient pas. Elles ont ainsi créé tout une collection d’aventures et contes de fées “destinée à toutes les familles gays et lesbiennes, peu importe les origines ou la religion”.
Un Noël vraiment pour tous : ” Le dernier titre de ‘My Family!’ est une commande. Nous nous sommes aperçus qu’il y avait une forte communauté juive LGBT ”, commente Monica. ”Or il n’y a rien pour représenter ce pan de la communauté.”
Sélection : Les héros de The Wonderful Adventures of Benjamin and Solomon sont deux élèves d’une yeshiva, une école religieuse juive, ”intimement liés par un amour aussi fort que celui de n’importe quel autre couple”, explique Cheril Bey-Clark sur le site A Wider Bridge. Ce conte de fées explore ”l’histoire juive, la dévotion à Dieu et des idées non traditionnelles sur la famille”.
Les plus petits apprécieront Adopting Ahava, l’histoire d’un bambin de huit ans, fraîchement adopté par deux mamans juives, qui adopte à son tour un chien – un ouvrage de niche.
>> Adopting Ahava : Jonathan et ses deux mamans adoptives, Rachel et Jessica
>> Adopting Ahava, de Jennifer Byrne. Pour les 4-8 ans. Prix : 8,97 dollars (6,50 euros) sur le site de My Family!
>> The Wonderful Adventures of Benjamin and Solomon, d’Elena Yakubsfeld. Pour les 9-12 ans. Prix : 9,95 dollars (7,25 euros). http://awiderbridge.org/two-new-childrens-books-for-the-jewish-lgbt-community-just-in-time-for-hanukkah/
>> Bedtime reading for the gay-friendly Jewish family : An African-American lesbian couple sought Jewish LGBT children’s books.
When Monica and Cheril Bey-Clarke were preparing to be foster parents in New Jersey, they wanted to build a multi-cultural library for their child that reflected a broad spectrum of families, including one that looked like them: two African-American moms. Finding none, they started My Family! in 2010, a publisher of children’s books aimed at gay and lesbian families of all races and religions.
1/ “The Wonderful Adventures of Benjamin and Solomon,” a tale of two scholars who get more adventure on one snowy night than they could dream of. Set in medieval Europe, this fairytale is penned by new author, Elena Yakubsfeld of Greenwich, CT. This book is for young adults.
“Benjamin and Solomon are not just students,” says publisher Cheril Bey-Clarke. “They are two young men whose intimate love for each other is as strong as any other couple. On their quest to recover a stolen prayer they trek through a magical forest, encounter dragons and confront angry knights in a towering castle. They are essentially gay, Jewish heroes and quite frankly there is no other story like this. We’re thrilled to work with the author to bring it to the community!” Accented with lively illustrations and playful dialog, this title explores Jewish history, devotion to God, and non-traditional ideas of family.
Adopting Ahava : Jonathan didn’t think anything could beat the excitement of being adopted by his two Jewish mamas, but his eighth birthday comes close. His mamas take him to a dog shelter to adopt a puppy of his own! After looking at all the cute, squirming tail-waggers, Jonathan makes an unexpected choice. In Adopting Ahava, Jonathan shows readers that all kinds of people-and pets-create happy, loving families.
