Sometimes I find it so relaxing to read a book for kids. This kind of books, in their apparent simplicity, is able to make you laugh, but it also urges you to think.
This short story by Amy Gabel is a typical example of what I just said. As you discover the incredible adventures of this little being called SweetPea, soon you realise that the context in which they occur is nothing but conventional.
The children in the story are three siblings with different ethnicity and religion, who were adopted and live together in harmony. But this isn’t the only peculiarity of their family. Unlike what you would see in the traditional family, we find out the mother is the one who works; she makes long shifts and hasn’t too much time to dedicate to her children. Instead the father is a househusband: he takes care of the household and children, which isn’t always so easy for him. He’s always so busy and tired.
Such an image isn’t so distant from reality as far as it concerns me, because I know more than a family in which the traditional roles are inverted and people aren’t so surprised of that (though the normality to me is to see both parents working), but I can understand that in certain social and geographical contexts it isn’t so at all.
My compliments to the author for the way she’s able to put this kind of themes with simplicity inside a story for kids, who by nature have a more open mentality than adults and are ready to accept any diversity without a problem; actually they don’t see any difference in genders, colours of the skin or personal spirituality. It would be great that they never lose such ability.
The Adventures of SweetPea on Amazon.
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