The White Swan Express

Aoki, Elaine M. and Okimoto, Jean Davies. The White Swan Express.New York: Clarion Books,2002.

This story is about multiple families adopting Chinese quadruplets. One of the families is a lesbian couple Andrea Lee and Charlotte Appleford. This book is like Emma and Meesha My Boy in the fact that the focus of the story is not on the couple being gay, but on them starting their family. This book was a hard book for me to wrap my mind around, though I found it enjoyable. It was hard to read, because when talking about the adoption process, it talked about all the families as though they are the same. It did not talk about how tremendously hard it is for an LGBT family to adopt a child, as opposed to a heterosexual couple. This could cause misconceptions for the reader. I also liked how in a picture on page 13 in the text Charlotte Appleford one part of the same sex couple is wearing a cross. I liked this because it is often a stereotype that members of the LGBT community are not/cannot be religious because Christianity “views” homosexuality as a sin. Therefore, I think this picture does a good job of dispelling that stereotype. The characters in this story are portrayed as being feminine women. This breaks down the stereotype that LGBT couples have one partner to fit each normal gender role of a heterosexual relationship. This book does a good job talking about the emotions of adopting as well. Overall this book breaks down many stereotypes and is an enjoyable read.