Summary:

Ok, buckle up, I’m sharing a book about animals. A board book that reinforces the phrase “love is love” to be exact. Gay penguins? Yes. Lady cheetahs courting? Gotcha covered. Bighorn sheep falling in love? You betcha.

In the animal kingdom, over 1500 species have been observed in same-sex pairings. This book doesn’t exclusively cover romantic pairings, but also shares some facts about alligator parents and sperm whales that adopted a dolphin with a uniquely curved spine.

Something that I really like about the book is that Katy did a lot of research about same-sex couples in nature, and created additional information which can be found here. Being a queer person, we’re often told our “lifestyle” is “unnatural”. This book made me feel warm and fuzzy inside, (I have been known to yell “I love love!!” when seeing LGBTQIA+ couples on tv) and I love the rainbow illustrations that add a whimsical touch to the animals. The extra info online, and a list of selected sources, shows the intentionality of Katy Tanis’ work. This isn’t just a sweet story about love, it’s a statement that happy couples can be found anywhere and everywhere, especially in the animal kingdom.

This book was kindly sent by Katy Tanis herself, and published by Mudpuppy, all opinions and decision to review is my own!

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