The Pirate Mums

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That idea turned into The Pirate Mums, published by Oxford University Press and illustrated by Kate Greenaway Medal nominee Lydia Corry. Our differences make us special In fact, if they don’t, Me and My Dysphoria Monster is a wonderful lesson in empathy for children who are growing up in an increasingly diverse social landscape. The Pirate Mums is a way of changing that – it’s a tool for grownups, particularly teachers, to introduce the idea of different family set ups in a low-key way that doesn’t immediately mark those families out as ‘other’. These LGBTQ bedtimes stories to read right now are all glowing examples of the varied queer experiences so many of us go through. Of course, for children with same sex parents, having two mums or dads is the norm, but there is something about encountering families that look like one’s own in the public setting of a classroom that adds validation.

As "normal" life recedes, absence and worry step in. But through this turmoil, the story weaves a lullaby of comfort, a focus on the present day, "the perfect day", that holds the sisters side-by-side together in the here and now, releasing them from worry and sheltering them from tomorrow’s storm and the uncertainty of what may be to come. The title will be published under Mullish's married name, Jodie Lancet-Grant. Mullish is a communications director at Pan Macmillan, where she has worked on non-fiction books for Bluebird. She has over 10 years of publicity and marketing experience in the industry. Norman has grown a pair of wings, and he loves them. But he is afraid of what his parents will say; afraid of judgement or rejection or punishment; afraid he is somehow wrong.

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The book is layered with grown-up voices of reassurance– ‘your sister is just a bit tired’ – but the child’s emotional load is voiced through the raging storm (the river of rain that falls from the sky, the wind crying wildly as the reality of illness dawns). This powerful little story creates a space where the complex feelings associated with losing somebody can be gently explored and validated. Maya has lost her mum, and is missing her. We don’t know how or why she has gone, and that is part of the book’s beauty and potential– she is simply absent.

By the close of the book, Dimitri is surrounded by new friends, received and accepted: ‘they made quite a pile’. And this pile, fostered by Dimitri through his own acts of love, and made up of people who receive and nurture him, represents a vital form of family, too. 9. Kind by Alison Green and Axel Scheffler Indeed, the universality of feeling, at times, like we don’t fit in, is another reason that I’m hopeful teachers will embrace The Pirate Mums. However, Perfectly Norman can also be interpreted as a celebration of our individuality, queer or not. The fiesty female characters are everything I want myself – and my girls – to live up to.’ Anna Whitehouse, Heart Radio DJLydia Corry studied painting at the Royal College of Art. Her first book, Eight Princesses and a Magic Mirror by Natasha Farrant, was nominated for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal 2021. She has illustrated several picture books. Dominic Arnall, Chief Executive of Just Like Us, added: “We’re so thrilled to be partnering with Jodie Lancet-Grant and Oxford University Press to bring much-needed representation and stories about LGBT+ families to more primary schools this School Diversity Week. Illustrated by Carnegie medal-longlisted Lydia Corry, The Pirate Mums is about a little boy called Billy who just wishes that his family could be a little more like everyone else’s. Within Atinuke’s warm, playful depiction of Anna Hibiscus’ inter-generational, cross-cultural family, we experience a little girl’s confusion as, overnight, the roles and rituals that have "always" defined her family suddenly shift. With the arrival of baby twins, family members’ energy and resources are unavoidably diverted from Anna. She feels anger, rejection and injustice as the people who love her suddenly seem universally "too busy’"

The free educational resources also include ideas for PSHE, PSED and lessons across the curriculum as well as worksheets, drawing exercises and discussion prompts. Because whilst my children obviously know that families with two mums and two dads exist, plenty don’t. Often, families with same sex parents aren’t something that young children have seen before, either in real life, on TV or in books. Play a listening game where one child is blindfolded in the middle. Children can take it in turns to say 'Ahoy me hearty' in their best pirate voice. The blindfolded child then guesses who it was.Clare Helen Welsh opens this poignant tale with an image of safe shelter – a family together, embracing, perfectly at ease. But she deftly leads her reader into a more complicated emotional landscape as the safety of the known begins to falter, shaken by the storms of fear, questioning and worry as a child’s illness begins to shadow the family. I wrote the book to resonate with children who worry about their family being different from the norm in any way at all – perhaps they speak another language at home, or eat food that isn’t the same as the meals served at friends’ tables. Jodie Lancet-Grant is a Communications Director at Pan Macmillan, a publisher of non-fiction books for adults. When Jodie’s twin daughters were three, they started noticing that their family, with two mums, was different from other people’s. Jodie decided to write a book with two mums so that her daughters could see families like theirs in picture books. It does this through an easy-to-comprehend metaphor that every child can follow, whether they suffer with dysphoria or not. As soon as I heard that my story was going to be published, I knew that I’d want teachers in particular to take it to their hearts. And there are a number of reasons for that.