GLBTQ collection: Chester's Way

This is another picture book aimed at young children, though it would be appropriate for slightly older children in early elementary school. The book has great illustrations however more text than many primary picture books, this could lose children’s attention spans. The main characters of the story are a pair of young mice named Chester and Wilson, who are best friends but aren’t always interested in the things other little boy mice are. The purpose of this text was not to portray the mice as gay males because as children it isn’t a relationship in that sense but a close friendship that shows subtle clues teaching children it is ok to be different. The story also introduces a female character Lilly, who teaches lessons about not judging someone by the way the look. This text offers a combination of narration and quotation which gives a fun opportunity to read with different voices for each character or to have children take different roles to read together.
As a piece of diverse literature the book stands out as a unique opportunity for teachers and parents alike; because it never introduces the boys or any other characters as being gay it is a much more widely available and accepted book. If you use it as a beginning resource among other texts showing that its ok for two boys to hold hands, cuddle, and be different from other little boys is a great lesson to teach. If a young child, who may not really realize that being gay is different or wrong yet, can see these things they like doing in a book it helps them avoid ever feeling the need to hide their emotions and actions in the first place. In the article I’ve written about also on this site they discuss the importance of these types of characters in books. You do not always need a book to scream out labels and information to students, let the actions speak louder to the children than the words. The one thing to be careful of in using this book is that in some ways it could be seen as stereotypical of portraying gay men to be less “masculine” than other straight men. While as long as this message is balanced by other books I feel it could make this impression less strong for students, if this was the only book shown that included any same sex relationships or different relationships at all it would defiantly give a biased view. Keeping this in mind I still think it is an important addition to a truly diverse library for its subtle and completely inclusive attitude towards different relationships and habits, and it teaches the important lesson of accepting new people.

Henkes, Kevin. Chester's Way. 1st. New York City: Greenwillow Books, 1988.