AUTHOR INSPIRED TO WRITE UNIQUE BOOK FOR CHILDREN
WRITER Phil Burrows has switched from his usual sci-fi to pen a book for children with gay parents. The author was inspired to pen Emily’s First Pet after getting a call from friend Emma Lane.
Emma has two kids from a samesex relationship and was worried that there was a lack of children’s books that dealt with the topic.
“I think Phil has done an incredible job with the book and I cannot thank him enough,” said Emma, mum to eight-year-old Lily and three-year-old Jac.
“Many of the books out there tackling the subject of same-sex parenting are extremely outdated.”
The book was released on Amazon on November 9, where it began selling fast.
It’s the first in a series called Emily and her Mums.
“We don’t want to be reading books to our children that explain why someone has two mums or two dads,” Emma said.
“We just want to read stories which normalise same-sex parenting and Phil’s new book does this brilliantly.
“I for one certainly hope local education authorities start to rethink the types of books they have in their school library and I will certainly be encouraging my children’s school to stock Phil’s new book. Literature is a wonderful way to expose children to the world, and having access to books such as Phil’s goes a long way to celebrating family diversity.”
Phil writes under the name PN Burrows and is behind The Mineran Series of sci-fi novels.
They star a character named Sam Shepard who discovers aliens outside Wrexham.
“Emma has two children from a samesex relationship and has many times tried to find books which feature same-sex paren t s ,” 49-year-old Phil said. “There are a few out there but many of them focus on explaining same-sex relationships, as opposed to just featuring them in the story.” The tales, illustrated by Doug Lawrence, also take in multiculturalism and are printed in a font designed for the dyslexic. “This new series Emily and Her Mums deals with the fact that she has two mums in a very matter-of -fact way,” Phil, from Wrexham, said. “The aim of the books is to try and normalise same-sex parenting for children as much as possible. “We live in a very liberal world and families come in all shapes and sizes. This should be reflected more in children’s literature.” Each book contains a website address where readers can download drawings from the book to colour in.