The Daddy Machine

by Johnny Valentine, Lynette Schmidt (Illustrator)

Two children with lesbian mothers wonder what it would be like to have a father, so they make themselves a daddy machine, turn it on, and a dad pops out. Then comes another, and another, and another ...

Genres: Picture Books, LGBT, Childrens

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Chanelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Daddy Machine is about a boy and girl who wonder what it would be like to have a daddy. When their mothers decide to go and run errands they leave a special surprise behind. It turns out that the special surprise is a daddy machine. The children construct and generate the machine finding that way too many daddies start to come out. They soon realize that having two mommies is just fine with them.

[Bella · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is petty, but the book was clearly written to sort of rhyme. And that’s fine. But the rhyme scheme was pretty off in some places and it drove me crazy. I wouldn’t even know how to read this out loud if I wanted to. However, the premise is adorable and it’s a super funny book. The drawings are cute too and there’s one of the 64 daddies who is wearing a shirt that says Big Daddy which, this was written by a gay person in 1992, they had to know what they were doing.

[Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cute book about a brother and sister who have 2 moms. Their moms leave them a kit for building a daddy machine one weekend. This book is likely still out of print as it was when I purchase it.

[H. Givens · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't much like the art or the rhymes, but I loved the idea and the plot/resolution!