# 38 - Brenna and Vicki Harding, Going to Fair Day (2002)

# 38 - Brenna and Vicki Harding, Going to Fair Day (2002)

I’m sneaking this one in though the author is not gay. The text was written by the six year old daughter of the illustrator (who is a lesbian).

Going to Fair Day is part of the Learn to Include series, an Australian non-profit that publishes inclusive books: http://www.hotkey.net.au/~learn_to_include/

My daughter (who is two and a half) loves this book. She calls it the castle book as the little girl in it jumps in a bouncy castle with her friend Jed from school. This exemplifies what I like most about this book - that the queer families are so normalised. My daughter focuses on the bouncy castle, not on the information that Jed is at the fair day with his two Dads.

Likewise, on the first page she does not focus on the text ‘I have two Mums’. She likes that page because it shows the little girl squirting sun screen on her nose.

The text is simple enough that I read it all to her; it could be read independently by a child of six or seven I would think. The illustrations are neat, particularly the small greedy dog which recurs in the background nibbling on people’s food. And, as a bonus, it’s Australian so the little girl gets two Mums instead of two Moms, which is a nice change.

# 39 - James Gardiner, A Class Apart: The Private Pictures of Montague Glover (1992)

# 39 - James Gardiner, A Class Apart: The Private Pictures of Montague Glover (1992)

Montague Glover was born in the late 1890s and fought in World War One. He took photographs of men he slept with - starting with soldiers and moving on to men he met in the 20s and 30s. In the 1930s he met Ralph Hall, a working class man who became his live in chauffeur and partner for fifty years.

By chance, the records of their lives survive. This book shows Monty's photos of his friends, an excerpt from his diary in the first world war, and letters Ralph wrote to him in the second world war.

This is a really sweet collection. My favourites are Ralph's letters, which have erratic spelling but obviously come from the heart. 19 December 1942: 'This is a XMASxxxxxGIFT from your one and only darling. You dont know how much I miss you Monty. I love you darling so think good of me sweethart.'

I also adore the photos of Ralph, almost all of him clothed and leading his everyday life. There is only one nude in the entire collection. Mostly what you get to see is the very handsome Ralph gradually aging, culminating in a portrait of him in a 1970s lounge room with a ridiculously massive proto-stereo.