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A new children’s book featuring a same-sex wedding between two male guinea pigs looks certain to spark a furore.
Uncle Bobby’s Wedding tells the story of a young guinea pig named Chloe, who fears her favourite uncle won’t have time for her after he marries his boyfriend Jamie.
The theme of the book looks certain to be met with the same outrage that greeted the publication of earlier gay-themed children’s books, such as Heather Has Two Mommies and the more recent, And Tango Makes Three.
However, author and illustrator Sarah Brannen said she deliberately wrote the book in a mellow tone.
“I felt that I wanted to handle the story very delicately, because I really wanted this to be as accessible to as many people as possible. I mean, yes, there are two men getting married, but apart from that, I didn’t want to put anything in that might bother someone,” Brannen told AfterEllen.com.
“I tried to keep it family friendly and reflective of my own life. I didn’t want anything someone could make a nasty joke about.”
Brannen said she did not set out to write a controversial book. Instead, she intended to write a book for her five year-old niece, who was fascinated by weddings. However, the presence of the same-sex marriage debate in the news inspired her.
“I kept seeing such joyful couples,” Brannen said.
“It hit me one day: I’m going to make it a same-sex wedding. It wrote itself at that point.”
Similarly, senior editor Tim Travaglini said publishers G.P. Putnam Sons were not looking for an “issues book”.
“That it treats the uncles getting married as such an incidental facet of the story, I thought was really gutsy, and exactly as it should be,” Travaglini said.
“We weren’t looking for an issues book at all; it just was a wonderful little children’s book. The fact that it breaks all these molds was all the more appealing.
“The publisher, Nancy Paulson, was immediately for it, very much for the same reasons I was. There’s something gutsy about the whole thing, in its treatment of [same-sex marriage], and that appealed to us. Frankly, nobody balked."
Travaglini said he was prepared for complaints and controversy about the book, but would defend it against censorship.
“I’ll be happy with anything that draws attention to what I feel is a very unique, very special book, that really deserves to have the widest possible audience know about it, judge it for themselves, and hopefully fall in love with it the way we have."
Brannen said she was already preparing a sequel in which Uncles Bobby and Jamie adopt a child.
Guinea pigs are among the 1,500 species in which homosexual behavior has been observed. It appears to be widespread amongst birds and mammals, particularly sea mammals and primates.
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