I had planned to start this review off in a completely different manner. But, like the Tom Bombadil character in the Lord of the Rings, I decided not to pursue that tangent.

Add to that I feel incredibly guilty for not blogging (blame it on a pinched neck nerve, dog-sitting and long weeks at work prepping for vacation.)

My original intent was to write about both Daddy's Roommate and Heather Has Two Mommies in the same review. I figured, both are children's books, both are relatively short picture books. What could be so hard?

Had I gone with my original draft of this post, it would have been term paper sized. Nobody wants to read that on a blog.

So, I rewrite.

I hesitate. I hem and haw. I bite my lip, worrying that I will bungle phrases. Okay, I know I'll bungle phrases.

Oh well, it's not called A Year of Reading Dangerously for nothing.

If anything, my initial problem with writing this review of Daddy's Roommate  is that my moralizing, straight and narrow orange glasses won't seem to fit. A feeling that anybody who has worn glasses for ten years (as I have) can relate to. It's like when your underwire pokes out of your bra to stab you or you have a popcorn kernel stuck in your teeth.

Very uncomfortable.

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Review two: Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite

Basic information: Published in 1990 in Boston, Mass., by Alyson Publications, an imprint of GMP Publishers.

Most common reason for banning: Homosexuality

Length: 27 pages.

Raised eyebrow rating: (my gut instinct) zero; (with my now ill-fitting orange morality glasses) eight.

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Since every story should start at the beginning, we'll start with what I read first.

(in voice of a child reciting what they did on their summer vacation)

I read Michael Willhoite's book, Daddy's Roommate because it was the second book on the American Library Association's list.

It was good.

(Okay, big girl voice now)

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For the record, I like gay people. I like lesbians. I like transgendered, bisexual and whatever other kind of people you have out there. .

I support gay marriage, gay rights and gay people sitting in at Parent Teacher night like everybody else who has ankle biters.

My best friend for years was gay and he was probably more of a homophobe than I could ever hope to be. As I recall, he only started hanging out with me because I reminded him of his first boyfriend. What that says about me as a heterosexual girl I don't know but, after I met said boyfriend on a vacation we took together to Chicago, I can understand where he was coming from. The guy was me male, including the liking boys thing.

I understand that many people, some in my own set of relations included, have issues with any or all of the things I've written above.

I have read Leviticus.

I have, for the sake of a news story, visited Fred Phelp's cesspool. (I will not link to because 1) It's easy enough to find yourself by Googling it and 2) The hate I found there was up there with Mein Kampf and Alfred Rosenberg's vile treatises. Just because I respect the right to free opinion and expression doesn't mean I have an obligation on my blog to steer viewers to Fred Phelps. If I'm a hypocrite, so be it.)

But I cannot and will not agree. I know in the core of my soul (whether that exists is a different topic) that there is nothing wrong with loving someone of your own sex.

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 So,  when I picked up Daddy's Roommate, I found it to be a sweet, straightforward depiction generally of why a little boy might have two fathers. 

I thought Willhoite's handing of why the unnamed little boy lives with his  father  and Frank (the roommate of the title) was well done. In terms of handling why daddy doesn't live with him and his mommy, I can't really fault Willhoite for avoiding making an issue of how x's mommy must have felt in finding out her husband was gay.It probably would leave me as a parent in an awkward spot when my child asked me, "What about x's Mommy?" 

But, since Rufus didn't ask, I figure I could handle that.

The illustrations complimented the simple prose. The picture of Daddy and Frank in bed is innocent by any standards expect those that have a problem with two men sharing any sort of bed. We're talking long-sleeved, button-up pajama tops here.

While I read this, I tried to bear in mind that, if I'm taking into account the side that likes to ban and challenge this book, the entire idea of Daddy having said roommate is wrong, Daddy's roommate being involved in x's life is wrong and the sharing a bed thing is really wrong.

Can't really say I can get into my orange morality glasses today, but I tried.

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A quick Google search for Daddy's Roommate bannings turned up quite a few banning mentions. I will talk about one of my favorites -- an article in The Nation from the 2008 presidential election. Please welcome (drum roll and possibly the" Imperial March" from Star Wars) Ms. Sarah Palin.

It could not be a modern talk about banned books without the Wasillian barracuda, could it?

For the full article by Nancy Kranich from September 2008, click here.

According to the article, during Palin's tenure, Willhoite's book was amongst those that received the most challenges in Wasilla.

The Wasilla challenge, at least in Kranich's reasoning seems linked to Palin's policy queries about banning books from the local library. I leave it to you, my dearest readers, to form your opinions.

To be balanced, Wasilla would not be the only town to have issues with this book. Other challenge sites include: Ada, Idaho, Rutland, Vermont and Wichita Falls, Texas, according to a list compiled earlier this year by Pamela Hayes-Bohanan of Bridgewater State College.

For once, I was able to find what the author of one of the ALA's top ten most banned had to say in return.

Willhoite, speaking to the Huffington Post, responded to Palin's banning move (and to be fair, hers was not the first) by saying this: " She is my mortal enemy." For the full story by Sam Stein, click here.

Reading as war starter ... now that's a thought. Because those are fighting words above. (John Wayne drawl, ya'll)

But I think's just another front in the on-going culture war over gay rights in a world where Daddy's Roommate is a phrase more loaded than you'd think.

Read dangerously all!