King and King

KING AND KING
de Haan, L, & Nijland, S (2000). King and king.Berkeley : Tricycle Press.

King and King is a children’s book based on the old classic love story of a prince and
princess falling in love. It has a similar rhythm as many Disney books and movies do in regards to finding love and living happily ever after in the end. However, this book portrays a homosexual relationship as opposed to heterosexual relationships that are often the focus of many stories where a man and a woman live happily ever after. Hann and Nijland take an approach that is refreshing to this old classic love story. They allow children to understand that any two people can fall in love and live happily ever after. It expands the narrow thinking that only a man and woman can be together and opens understanding of homosexual relationships without discussing sexuality. Hann and Nijland are insiders to the GLBTQ community, as they are in a relationship and met in art school. This helped spark their interest in writing and illustrating a children's book regarding this topic.

No where in the text of this story is there even an implicit reference to sexuality. The focus is on finding someone to love and living a life that is full of happiness. On the back page of the book there is a final illustration that could implicitly convey the issue of sexuality because the two kings in the story are shown kissing. This however is not part of a page that includes text and is never explicitly explained or mentioned. If an adult did not want this picture to be shown, it would be very easy for it to never be exposed to children. Therefore I feel that this picture is an important image in the story because it is a visual representation of how two males can live happily ever after but it also allows a choice to be made by the adult reading the book. It does not conflict with the overall message of the story and does not present ideas that would make it too controversial. For these reasons, I think it was an excellent nomination for the Lambda Literary Award.

One illustration has been mentioned above; however I feel that all of the illustrations in the story are a crucial part of how the story is told. Before the prince finds his prince all of the pictures of him show an upset and saddened face. His mother, the queen makes it clear that she wants her son to be happy and find someone to marry. However, she realizes that the princesses are not making her son happy. This is shown through the illustration on page seventeen. Both her and her son look gloomy which is quite a contrast from the way they are shown after he has found his prince on pages twenty three and twenty four. It is clear that another message of the book that is appropriate for children and adults is to love your children or your parents no matter what their choices are in life in regards to sexual orientation. In addition, a message for children here is what feels right for some people may not feel right for all people and those differences are still okay. These are messages that create a quality piece of literature in King and King as well as a piece of multicultural literature that children should be exposed to at any age.