Nick Rolfe

Lilac and Mauve: A Story of Love in a Multicultural Family - Rainbow Street Nick Rolfe

Lilac and Mauve can't have babies of their own. So they decide to adopt two babies who don't have a mummy or daddy. But when they go to get the new babies, they are not what they expect!

Part of the Rainbow Street Series promoting gender awareness, Lilac and Mauve is a story of two parts. Firstly, the story introduces same-sex parents, though this is never discussed explicitly, because the main story is really about whether parents have to be the same as their children. As such the story can be used to discuss both gender roles and multicultural families using the single idea that it is not differences within a family that are important, but the love that bonds them together. This also makes the book helpful for discussing the idea of foster care and foster families, because it isn't only biological parents who can be a loving.

The Rainbow Street books are all aimed at 4- to 6-year-old children, using colourful pictures of animals to tell stories of gender identity and family diversity. They all share the common theme of acceptance and could equally be used at home and in school to discuss all forms of difference and diversity.

By sharing the Rainbow Street Series of books with young children, the aim is to make gender diversity no big deal and no different to accepting and respecting ethnic diversity, religious diversity and forms of neurodiversity. Stories in the series cover topics ranging from gender identity and adoption by same-sex parents, through to single fatherhood and it being ok to live alone in old age.

As with all of its books, the publisher - Your Stories Matter - aims to help people know they are not alone with what makes them different. If a young person or adult can relate to a story, it gives them hope and encourages them to share their concerns. The publisher aims to provide free teaching resources for all of its books that can be used in schools, to help improve understanding and celebrate differences.