Bernadette,
is Who’s Your Real Mum? your debut
picture book?
Yes,
it is.
Who’s Your Real Mum? is a delicate and emotive view of a
non-traditional family, and the curiosity of a friend wanting to know. How did the
idea for it come about?
My
partner is also a woman and when our children started school, they were asked which
one of us was their real mum. I felt for my kids having to navigate those sorts
of questions and at the same time I understood the curiosity of the child asking.
I wanted to explore the question and its
answer in a way that took the pressure off children from same sex parented
families but also respected the curiosity of children and their love for
answers.
The structure of the family
unit has changed significantly during the last ten years. Do you agree that
children struggle to understand the concept of same parent families?
I think children understand what is celebrated and
visible around them. But there hasn’t been a great deal of movies, TV shows or books
featuring same-sex parented families, particularly those that talk to a young
audience. The more visible rainbow families there are, the more acceptance
there will be.
Was this in any way a
motivation for your own story?
Yes. When my kids were younger it would have been
lovely if families like their own were in the shows they were watching and the
books they were reading. It would have been a powerful message about the
acceptance of their family. It would have also given kids from more traditional
families an opportunity to see a range of families. And of course, some of
those kids may themselves grow up to become part of the LGBTIQ community, and
in their case, it is an early message of acceptance.
The
main theme is love, an emotion easily understood by children. Where do you hope your book will find its most
valuable/educational space?
I hope that kids from all sorts of families enjoy
the book and it helps to show that although family structures can be different,
that it’s the fundamentals of love that are important.
I would also love to see it amongst the collections of
kindergartens and schools, who I think play an important role in reflecting the
diverse range of children’s experiences.
Anna Zobel has done a
meticulous job in translating your text. How did she come to be chosen as
illustrator?
Scribble
publisher, Miriam Rosenbloom, always looks for a certain feeling when she
matches the text with an illustrator. With Who’s Your Real Mum? she looked
around for about a year. During that time, Anna was commenting on Scribble’s
Instagram posts and when Miriam checked out her pictures, she immediately
thought Anna would be great for the project.
Picture books take time to
create and bring to bookshelves. Can you share with us your long-term hopes as
writer/creator of children’s picture books?
I currently have a couple of projects bubbling away
and my hope is that these make it out into the world. The moment when an
illustrator animates the ideas in a writer’s head are magical and make me want
to produce many more picture books. The type that kids are drawn to and that offer
both wonder and comfort.
Have you considered other age
groups for future target audiences?
As well as working on another picture book, I am currently
writing a middle-grade fantasy novel, which also features rainbow families. While
there is danger and adventure in this fictional world, the type of family the
characters are born into is no big deal.
Bernadette
Green grew up loving animals and being outside. She dreamed of becoming a
writer, but life took her in many different directions. She trained as a youth
worker and shiatsu therapist before returning to writing. Bernadette lives in
Melbourne with her partner and children, and their dog, Coco.
