Pride Week Guest Post from Lesléa Newman: HEATHER HAS TWO MOMMIES, 25 Years Later
When I wrote HEATHER HAS TWO MOMMIES in 1988, I never dreamed it would be deemed a “classic” 25 years later. I never dreamed it would be banned, burned, defecated on, and read into the Congressional Record. I never dreamed it would be parodied by Jon Stewart, Conan O’Brien, and Bill Maher on national TV. Heck, I didn’t even think the story would ever see the light of day.
Candlewick Press, New Edition, March 2015.
The book wasn’t even my idea. The book would never have been created if not for a chance encounter. In 1988, I was walking down the street in Northampton, MA, which the National Enquirer had recently dubbed “Lesbianville, USA,” when an acquaintance stopped me on the street and told me she did not have a book to read to her daughter that showed a family like hers—a little girl with two moms—and that somebody should write one. She looked me straight in the eye, and I knew by somebody she didn’t mean anybody. She meant me.
Always one to appreciate a writing challenge, I immediately rolled up my sleeves and got to work. How hard could it be? Children’s books don’t even have a lot of words, I thought foolishly. Now when I think back, I’m reminded of a quote by Mark Twain. The story goes that an editor asked him for a three-page essay. He sent a telegram: “Need 100 pages? Give me 3 days. Need 3 pages? Give me 100 days.” In other words, writing children’s books may look simple, but it isn’t easy.
I went to our local library, checked out arm loads of picture books, devoured them, and began to write. Once I decided that the notion of “two” was going to be woven throughout the story, the words came easily. Heather has two hands, two feet, two arms, two legs, two pets, and two mommies. She brings two of her favorite things with her on the first day of school. There she learns that families come in all kinds of configurations and that as her teacher tells her, “the most important thing about a family is that all the people in it love each other.”
Writing Heather wasn’t hard, but her journey to publication, proved to be difficult.
I reached out to large publishers, small publishers, mainstream publishers, and alternative publishers. No one wanted to bring Heather into the world. One editor at a large New York City publishing house acknowledged that there was a need for the book as well as an eager audience for it, but he said he “wouldn’t touch it with a ten-foot pole.”
Alyson Books, 20th Anniversary Edition, September 2009.
One day I was discussing this with my friend Tzivia, who was a lesbian mom with a brand new (gorgeous) baby daughter. One of us (we honestly can’t remember who) said, “Let’s do it.” Tzivia had a desk top publishing business (remember those?) at the time and so we decided the book would be put out by her business, In Other Words. We sent out a fundraising letter to the people who had signed up to be on my mailing list at poetry readings, and we raised about four-thousand dollars, all in ten-dollar donations (and remember, this was decades before Kickstarter). We found an illustrator and a printer, and by the time the books arrived on my doorstep, half of them were spoken for. Six months later, Alyson Publications took over and became the book’s publisher.
People tell me I was very brave to create a book about a child with two lesbian moms. I didn’t feel brave. I didn’t feel like I was doing something radical. I didn’t think my book would start cultural wars, cost New York City’s Chancellor of Education his job, or start heated discussions at school board meetings and around dinner tables all across the country. All I thought about was writing a book for the daughter of two moms so she could see a family like hers in a children’s book.
Many adults have embraced Heather. Many adults have rejected Heather. But what matters to me most is what children think of Heather. Like the little girl who sent me a letter saying, “Thank you for writing HEATHER HAS TWO MOMMIES. I know that you wrote it just for me.” And the little boy who crossed out the word “Heather” every time it appears in the book and put his name instead. And the little girl who sleeps with the book under her pillow every night. And the little boy who brought the book to his classroom for show-and-tell. That’s what matters most.
Children are not born thinking there is only one way to be in this world. They don’t have a pre-conceived notion that one type of family is better than any other. Children think, “Who are the people who love me? Who are the people who will take care of me?” These are the people in my family. The people who love me.
Many things have changed since 1989, the year that the first edition of Heather was published. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has been struck down. The Marriage Equality movement has made great strides and soon the Supreme Court will render a historic ruling. The country of Ireland has just decided by a landslide popular vote to legalize same-sex marriage. Many high schools and middle schools have Gay Straight Alliances. It’s a new world.
And Heather has a new look. After the book went out of print several years ago, Candlewick Press re-issued it with a trimmed text and brand new illustrations. Now Heather marches confidently into her new classroom in her signature purple cowgirl boots with a big grin on her face. Heather is leading the way for a new generation, and I couldn’t be prouder.
Lesléa Newman.
Lesléa Newman is the author of 65 books for readers of all ages. Her titles include OCTOBER MOURNING: A SONG FOR MATTHEW SHEPARD (teen novel-in-verse), A LETTER TO HARVEY MILK (short story collection) and HEATHER HAS TWO MOMMIES (children’s book). Her literary awards include poetry fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Artists Foundation. Nine of her books have been Lambda Literary Award finalists. From 2008-2010 she served as the poet laureate of Northampton, MA. Currently she teaches at Spalding University’s low-residency MFA in Writing program. Her newest poetry collection, I CARRY MY MOTHER was published in January 2015 by Headmistress Press.
