In It's Okay to Be Different, every child feels included and celebrated. From adoption, to same-sex parents, to losing a tooth and eating in the bathtub, this book celebrates differences without the intensity that children's social issue books can sometimes carry. (amazon.com, $8)
"I like that the girl on the front has earrings."
My Princess Boy is about a boy who is a princess. He wears party dresses and is fancy, and because of this, he is made fun of. My daughter knows that boys can have long hair and wear dresses, but this book gave us language to talk about how others don't think that's OK for boys and how feelings are hurt. (amazon.com, $13)
"I like that all boys can wear dresses, and I like that he looks pretty in his dress."
And Tango Makes Three is based on the true story of two male penguins living in New York City's Central Park Zoo, who try to start a family by sitting on a rock like an egg and eventually raise a baby penguin who needs a family. This story is adorable, because penguins, but a great book to start the conversation with children about how babies are made when their parents are gay. I always liked to tell my daughter how much we wanted her just like Roy and Silo wanted Tango. They did everything they could to make a baby, just like we did. (amazon.com, $11)
"I like that they live at the zoo."
Heather Has Two Mommies is the standard two-mom children's book. I don't love it. First, most families we know have separate names for the two moms (we go by Mommy and Mama), so I find it a bit confusing, especially for a book, that the two moms are both Mommy. Second, Heather seems to find out her family is different while in preschool, without any preparation from her parents that other kids don't usually have two moms, and then she's devastated. We started talking with our daughter about our family at infancy, as I would expect most same-sex families do. Or perhaps all families do. But, as with most books, it doesn't really matter how I feel about it, because my daughter loves it. She always has. (amazon.com, $12)
"I like Heather has two moms just like me."
We don't know as many two-dad families as we do two-mom families, so I sought this book out. My daughter loves One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dad, Blue Dads. She found it so ridiculous that the dads were blue, and totally normal that a family had two dads. (amazon.com, $33)
"I like that book because they have different color faces."
More on reading with children
12 Adorable baby books your kids can read together
Get to work! 100 Children's books to read in a lifetime
What to do when your kid hates reading