Two Moms, The Zark, And Me - Hardcover

This seriously flawed picture book blunders through a sensitive issue--the rights of homosexual parents. A boy is taken to the park by his "two moms," wanders over to the zoo where he meets a Zark (a sort of brontosaurus), discovers he's lost, and is picked up by Mr. and Mrs. McFink--ultraconservatives who go ballistic over his family's domestic arrangements: "It's wrong! It's a sin! Not at all how I think! / The only true family's a family like ours: / With a mom, and a dad, and two kids, and two cars." At last the Zark intervenes, routing the McFinks and reuniting the boy with his parents. Valentine's rhyming text is uneven and, highlighting as it does one of childhood's worst fears--being lost--has a nightmarish quality that's exacerbated by the weird proportions and skewed perspectives of Lopez's cartoonish illustrations. Lopez pictures McFink as a Jesse Helms lookalike, and just in case readers don't understand how rotten he and his wife really are (which would be difficult, given their perpetually nasty expressions), the McFinks are initially shown brandishing sharp instruments--although just exactly what they're doing at the zoo with an evil-looking nail file and a potato peeler is never explained. All in all, it's a mean-spirited, sniping approach to a topic that deserves thoughtful treatment. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

While his moms chat with a friend in the park, the narrator (in spritely verse that emulates Dr. Seuss with somewhat mixed success) wanders into the zoo, where ``...I saw a tame Zark./The Zark is so rare,/They once thought it extinct./But the Zark seemed to like me./She saw me...and winked.'' After a friendly game of catch with the dinosaur-like Zark (the kid is the ball), he realizes he's lost; worse, the McFinks, who volunteer to help him find his parents, are horrified that they are both moms (``It's wrong! It's a Sin! Not at all how I think!/The only true family's a family like ours:/With a mom, and a dad, and two kids, and two cars''). The McFinks are about to force the unwilling boy on new parents when the Zark intervenes; and before he gets back to his own moms, he meets a nice couple who explain that ``real families come/In all forms and all sizes''--with plenty of diverse examples. Lopez debuts here with sunny colors and a dynamic cartoon style that helps propel the story as much as the witty, rhythmic text. An entertaining way to state a message that's more straightforwardly conveyed in photos of actual families in Aylette Jenness's Families: A Celebration of Diversity, Commitment and Love (1990). (Picture book. 4-8) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.