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Final Draft of all contributions to Daddy's Roommate article:

Daddy's Roommate is a children's book written by Michael Willhoite and published by Alyson Books in 1990.^[1] One of the first children's books to address the topic of homosexuality, the story follows a young boy whose divorced father now lives with his life partner. The book's depiction of a gay household has led to its inclusion in many educational programs, and Willhoite's work was awarded a Lambda Literary Award in 1991.^[2]

Due to the book's intended audience and the controversial topic of gay relationships, there have been numerous attempts to remove it from schools and libraries. Because of these attempts, it was the second-most challenged book in the United States from 1990 to 1999.^[3]

The main character, who narrates the story, is a young boy whose parents were divorced the previous year.  Living separately with both his mother and his father, the boy discovers that his father has a new roommate named Frank.  He observes that his father and Frank do many activities together, including working, eating, sleeping, and occasionally even fighting.  Additionally, the boy accompanies his father and Frank on multiple excursions, including trips to the zoo, the beach, and a baseball game. The boy enjoys when Frank plays with him, cooks for him, and reads to him. When he asks his mother about his dad and his roommate, his mother explains that they are gay. When the boy is confused, his mother elaborates that the boy’s dad and Frank partake in many of the same activities that other couples do, and that being gay is just another form of love.  The story concludes with the boy’s acknowledgement that since all of his parents are happy, he is happy too.

This is a short picture book recommended for children between 2-8 years old.^[4] The illustrations are full-page watercolor paintings, with single-line text below. The simple language and descriptive artwork makes the book easily accessibly for young readers.^[4]

Awards

Under the Gay Men's Small Press category, Willhoites won a Lamda Literary Analysis award in 1991 following the book's release.^[2] Additionally, the book was honored for its in the Cooperative Children's Book Center's CCBC Choices list of best books in 2009 for its foundational role in gay literature.^[5]

Reviews

During the early 1990s, Daddy's Roommate was added to many public libraries following positive reviews in Publishers Weekly and Booklist.^[4][6] Publisher's Weekly praised the book for raising public awareness for the lack of children's literature acknowledging homosexual relationships.^[4] Furthermore, both reviews commended the book for its charming and familiar illustrations that enable children to feel comfortable and ask questions about the book.^[6] Additionally, the book also received positive reviews from the School Library Journal and the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books for its addressal and handling of living with two fathers.^[6] However, both evaluations noted that the quality of the writing itself was subpar, and that the story lacked depth or intrigue.^[7] A critique in Entertainment Weekly by Michele Landsberg echoed a similar sentiment, arguing that the sensitive topics of divorce and re-coupling were treated with relative indifference.^[8] Assessing that the book was so "blithe that it could almost be called Dick and Dick," Landsberg compared the book to the Dick and Jane stories that were often critiqued for their depictions of an idealized and stereotypical society.^[8]

In his piece Defending Children's Schooltime Reading: Daddy's Roommate and Heather's Mommies, Paul Finnessy asserts that Daddy's Roommate belongs in educational environments because it promotes dialogue about topics children might be confused by.^[9] Acknowledging that gay and lesbian people exist, Finnessy attests, is not necessarily deeming homosexuality proper so much as it is addressing a reality that children will experience.^[9][10] The book depicts a boy whose three parents all care for and love him, and Finnessy contributes multiple interviews from diverse parents who appreciate the the book's loving, safe, and fun household that all children can learn from.^[9]

Controversy

In the decade following the book's publication, it was one of the most challenged books in the country, with the American Library Association listing it as the most contested book in 1993 and 1994.^[3][11] Its prominence as one of the first children's books to illustrate a gay relationships has led to its inclusion in various political and social debates since its publication.

In 1992, the school chancellor of the New York City public school system proposed the Multicultural Children of the Rainbow Curriculum.^[9][12] Two of the suggested reading materials were Daddy's Roommate and Heather Has Two Mommies.^[9][12] When it was publicized that New York City's public schools would be teaching about homosexual relationships, debates broke out on Nightline, Larry King Live, and in The New York Times, demonstrating why it was the most challenged book in America the next two years.^[9][13]

Lon Mabon, an Oregon politician, used Daddy's Roommate and Heather Has Two Mommies in his campaign to amend the state constitution to allow for discrimination against lesbians and gay men.^[14] He used the two books as evidence of a militant homosexual agenda that threatened childhood development.^[14] However, citizens of Oregon voted to defeat the measure on November 3, 1992.

Daddy's Roommate became a point of discussion during the 2008 US Presidential Election when it was alleged that Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin had attempted to remove the book from a public library in Wasilla, Alaska.^[15] In 1995, then-councilwoman Palin requested that the local library remove the book three separate times. After the librarian refused, Palin fired her, before eventually rehiring her due to public backlash. ^[16][15] Fellow councilwoman Laura Chase asked Palin if she had read Daddy's Roommate, and Palin responded that she "didn't need to read that stuff."^[17] The McCain-Palin campaign denied Palin's involvement in the case despite witness accounts claiming otherwise.^[18]

Other notable attempts to censor the book are listed below:

Prior to writing Daddy's Roommate, Michael Willhoite was a cartoonist for the Washington Blade, a gay newspaper.^[1] His cartoons have been published in two different collections by Alyson Books.

In the tenth anniversary edition of Daddy's Roommate, an afterword is included by Willhoite reflecting on the book's tumultuous early history.^[25] Acknowledging that the book was the target of numerous acts of censorship, including burning, theft, and defacement, Willhoite thanks librarians across the country who "fought like tigers on the book's behalf."^[25] Demonstrating pride that the book has been utilized to educate children about gay families, Willhoite asserts that the book fulfills his original goal of providing a tangible example for children of gay parents to relate to.^[25]

Willhoite also wrote a sequel, Daddy's Wedding, which was published in 1996.^[26] The book features the same characters, and in this installment the boy serves as best man for their commitment ceremony.

Homosexuality in children's literature:

• Heather Has Two Mommies, by Lesléa Newman, portrays a lesbian couple raising their daughter Heather. Often shares the designation with Daddy's Roommate as the first two children's books depicting homosexual relationships to garner national attention.
• Alyson Books, the publication company for Daddy's Roommate which specializes in LGBT fiction and non-fiction works.
• King & King by Stern Nijland and Linda De Haan depicts the marriage of two male princes.
• Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin by Susanne Bösche features a child that lives with two fathers.
• And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson illustrates the story of two male penguins who fell in love at the Central Park Zoo.

Daddy's Roommate before the bulk of my additions:

Daddy's Roommate is a children's book written by Michael Willhoite and published by Alyson Books in 1991. One of the first popular books to address the subject of homosexuality, the story follows a young boy whose divorced father now lives with his life partner.

Consequently, the book has become one of the most challenged books in recent years with the American Library Association listing it at number 2 in their list of the 100 most challenged books from 1990-1999. Despite its challenges, this book won a Lambda Literary Analysis book award under the Gay Men's Small Press category.

Lon Mabon, an Oregon politician, used Daddy's Roommate and Heather Has Two Mommies in his campaign to amend the state constitution to allow for discrimination against lesbians and gay men. He used the two books as evidence of a militant homosexual agenda that served as damaging to children. However, citizens of Oregon voted on November 3, 1992, and the measure was defeated.

Daddy's Roommate became a point of discussion in the 2008 US Presidential Election when it was alleged that, in 1995, Sarah Palin, then a councilwoman in Wasilla, Alaska, complained that the book did not belong in the public library. Laura Chase asked Palin if she had read Daddy's Roommate, and Palin responded that she "didn't need to read that stuff." Palin asked the librarian in Wasilla to remove the book from the library's shelves three times and all three times, the librarian refused. As a result, Palin fired the librarian, but eventually rehired her due to public pressure.

In 2005, the Centerville School Board removed the book from the library as well as banned the novel from being used on school property.

Homosexuality in children's literature:

• Children and Young Adult Literature portal

• Heather Has Two Mommies, by Lesléa Newman, portrays a lesbian couple in a similar fashion

For the lead: Due to the book's intended audience and the controversial topic of gay relationships, there have been numerous attempts to ban it from schools and libraries. Because of this, it was second-most frequently challenged book in the United States from 1990 to 1999.^[1]

Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin

King & King

11/26/18 - Draft of Additions to Daddy's Roommate

Plot Summary

The narrator and main character of the story is a young boy whose parents were divorced the previous year.  Living separately with both his mother and his father, the boy discovers that his father has a new roommate named Frank.  He observes that his father and Frank do many activities together, including working, eating, sleeping, sharing, and occasionally even fighting.  Additionally, the boy accompanies his father and Frank on multiple excursions, including trips to the zoo and beach. The boy enjoys when Frank plays with him, cooks for him, and reads to him.  When he asks his mother about his dad and his roommate, his mother explains that they are gay. When the boy is confused, his mother elaborates that the boy’s dad and Frank partake in many of the same activities that other couples do, and that being gay is just another form of love.  The story concludes with the boy’s acknowledgement that since all of his parents are happy, he is happy too.

Response

In 1995, local citizen Karol Raiche picked up the book from Rutland Free Library in Rutland City, Vermont.  That week, Raiche published an article in the Rutland Herald that challenged the book’s inclusion in the children’s section at said library, and questioned the library’s policies.  The story garnered national attention, and the library held a public forum concerning the issue. In light of local support, the library board voted to retain the book in its current location, while also creating a new committee to study other library policies surrounding controversial literature.

(Break)

In 1998, Daddy’s Roommate was challenged at Hays Public Library in Kansas and in the Brevard County Library System in Florida.  Residents objected to the book’s equating of homosexual and heterosexual relationships, particularly the line on page 26 of the book that “Being gay is just one more kind of love”.^[2]

(Break)

When a request to ban the book at the Wichita Falls Public Library failed, a local resident checked the book out indefinitely to prevent other from accessing it.  In response, the Wichita Falls City Council creating a policy that enabled library card holders who garnered 300 signatures the ability to relocate certain literature.  The ACLU challenged this policy in local courts, and the policy was eventually deemed unconstitutional by U.S. District Court Judge Jerry Buchmeyer, thereby returning the book to the children’s section.^[3]

See Also

King and King by Stern Nijland and Linda De Haan

10,000 Dresses by Marcus Ewert

10/30/18 - Article Evaluation of Persepolis

The lead section's first two paragraphs are adequate, but the third paragraph devoted entirely to the film is confusing because the article is dedicated to the comics, and there is already a section later in the Wiki article about the film. I would suggest cutting this paragraph entirely. For the plot summary, as we discussed in class, it is in clear need of significant cuts. The goal of a Wikipedia article is not to provide a cliffnotes-esque translation of a work, because the point is not simply to summarize but to provide supplemental information as well. This is not to say that the entirety of the article is weak, as the reception section is well-organized and displays a line of thinking on the part of the authors.

When making edits, I'm going to focus primarily on the character list however. If only a sentence is devoted to the main character, then it does not make sense for characters who sparsely appear to have a full paragraph of detail. Furthermore, as it is currently constructed, characters that only appear in one of the books are given equal weight to those from both, and there is no specification as to which book certain characters appear in. While I could make three sections "Both", "1", "2", for example, this may make the article needlessly complex. It may make more sense to simply cut the characters that only appear in one book, and if their presence is truly notable, make sure they appear in the plot summary.

Article Evaluation of A Wrinkle in Time (2018 film) - 10/9/18

Lead Section: The author breaks up the lead into three paragraphs: The first is dedicated to the release, genre, cast, and a one-sentence summary of the plot, the second section focuses on the most notable production details, and the third part details general box office reception. I think the lead is very successful because a casual reader would find all they generally needed to know about the film right here, and if they had a particular inquiry about casting for example, they could then read that section equipped with sufficient knowledge about the movie as a whole. One small complaint, the article says "losing Disney at least $86 million", which is poor wording. A better description would be something along the lines of "costing Disney" or "a $86 million loss", for example.

Plot Synopsis: For a movie this is about right in terms of length, in my opinion. There are minor grammatical errors, but the plot is not dramatically worded and it does not devote too much attention to any one topic.

Other Sections (Cast, Production, Release, Reception, Infobox, etc.): If we assume that the target audience is a general fan of the film or someone interested in watching it for entertainment purposes, the article does a great job of being succinct when need be. Also, the amount of reliable references and links to other articles demonstrates that this article has been revised by numerous people who were very knowledgeable about the film. However, the inclusion of Rotten Tomatoes reviews is questionable.

Possible Resources: Since I used Credo last time, this time I used Literature Resource Center. I found an audio file and transcript of an NPR podcast, which usually constitutes as a reliable source. The resource was titled: "With Go-For-Broke Exuberance, 'A Wrinkle In Time' Celebrates The Power Of Love". This was the most recent work relating to A Wrinkle in Time, which signifies that it is related to the film, unlike most of the other results because the film was only released this year. To determine if the podcast was a reliable source, I would read the full transcript, as well as possibly check out some of the station's other podcasts available on NPR here: https://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/

Article Evaluation of Tucson Unified School District - 10/4/18

The main reason I selected this article was that I noticed segments of information were outdated. The demographic figures were from 2012, and the school budget had last been updated around the same time. Also, I noticed the References section was clunky, as there were two 21's and 22's. While the article certainly has its strengths (there is an extensive history of schools within in the district, including establishment and closing dates as well as mascots where applicable), certain sentences required slight grammatical and word choice changes. I plan to change the demographic section, and add a reference and citation as I practiced on the training module. Also, while there is no obvious bias, it is notable that some school districts have extensive Wikipedia pages, while many others have none at all. This calls into question who is creating this page, and what their possible motivations are in doing so. However, the article is adequate, especially considering that relatively succinct subject material.

Also, as I completed my edits I realized that the References section was already full, and that you can not add more than 50. While I debated removing one of the references (particularly one of the many for school founding dates) to make room for where I found the budget information, I figured I should not remove what someone else has correctly cited and implemented.

Article Evaluation of Precious Knowledge - 10/2/18

The article I chose to edit was dedicated to the documentary Precious Knowledge. It was clear that a previous Georgetown student had made significant contributions to the piece, paying particular attention to the reception of the film. However, a Wikipedia banner still appeared on the article, suggesting that parts of the plot in particular had to be truncated. Indeed, the plot was more of a plot synopsis than a summary, as essentially every minute of the documentary is represented in some fashion. With that in mind, most of my edits were cutting segments from the plot. While I focused on getting rid of unnecessary information, I also added some sentences, and combined sentences into more succinct points. The one major edit I made was movie the section "After the Film" to the bottom of the article, right before References. Previously, this section had been placed before sections actually dedicated to the film, such as production information. Since the article is about Precious Knowledge, news events that occurred after its publishing should not be the primary focus of the article.

Article Evaluation of Drama - 9/18/18

Evidently, the students and other contributors that have worked on this article are very familiar with the source material. There are more than a dozen references at the bottom of the page, all of them from reliable and professional sources. In my opinion, the strengths of the article include the introduction, the summary, the character list, and the reception and awards sections. In particular, the summary is a well-balanced and truncated version of the plot, including the most notable developments throughout the story and wisely choosing which details may not be as necessary to include. The only section that I feel requires some revisions is the portion dedicated to themes. In the third paragraph of the theme, "Presentation of Queer Identity and Coming Out", the use of quotations is particularly confusing. Obviously there is a spelling error (...still doesn't know if, currently displays still doesn't know of), but there is also confusion on where the author of this article is pulling these quotes from. For instance, "gay-straight divide" is presumably from source 5 as he cites, but "still doesn't know...or whatever" is actually on page 222 of Drama itself. Furthermore, while themes section is in danger at times of being too opinionated, and while I believe that the author's interpretation of some of the author's intentions is well-founded, edits on Wikipedia are supposed to be primarily factual, ie it's not the place to analyze and develop arguments. Overall though, I believe this article provides a good template for making edits on this type of material in the future.

*Also one more notes, a quick section on Publication could be added as demonstrated in the guidelines for Wikipedia Articles for book, especially since the publisher is Scholastic so information should be readily available.

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