Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Uncle What-is-it is Coming to Visit
Uncle What-is-it is Coming to Visit by Michael Wilhoite is a book about two children who are awaiting the arrival of their gay uncle. They have never been introduced to the word gay and have no idea what it means. When they are walking one day, they get caught up and end up asking two bullies what gay means. They learn from these two bullies the most exaggerated versions of gay men (with fruit hats, and leather pants), only to find out their uncle is very normal in their eyes. He is someone they really look up to, and learn to accept and understand that it's okay for gay men to also enjoy wearing extravagant clothing. It is surprising in the story how the words "fag" and "queer" are used as insults in the text which could be the introduction of those words to young children. I wish at the end of the story they had address the inappropriateness of those words because they wrapped up the story very well otherwise. Overall, I liked this story and the illustrations were colorful and fun.
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This sounds like a real interesting book. I am also surprise to hear that the story used such hateful words and chose not to address them and the problems using them at the end of the book.I will for sure have to check this book out. I am curious to find out what stereotypes they used to describe the uncle.
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