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Mechanics' Institute

Tarpey-Schwed LGBT Families Children's Book Special Collection

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Cover thumbnail for The Entertainer.

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The Entertainer

Creator

Michael Willhoite

Date

Published 1992

Format

Book

A wordless Alyson picture book in which a child performer’s two mothers appear as part of ordinary family life.

Two mothersWordless picture booksPerformanceAlyson Wonderland
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Overview

The Entertainer is Michael Willhoite’s 1992 wordless picture book about Alex, a child performer whose two mothers appear as part of his ordinary home and audience life. Its importance is different from Daddy’s Roommate or Daddy’s Wedding. The book does not explain gay parenting through adult dialogue; it asks readers to recognize family structure visually while following a performance story. That wordless form gives the collection a quieter representation object. It belongs beside more explicit Alyson titles because it shows how same-sex-parent families could appear incidentally, through pictures, gesture, and domestic framing rather than through explanatory language. The lack of text also makes the book depend unusually strongly on visual literacy.[4][5][9][6]

Wordless Form

The subtitle, A Story in Pictures, is central to the object. In a wordless picture book, family structure is not announced by narrator or dialogue; it is inferred from the visual sequence. That makes The Entertainer useful for a collection concerned with access and recognition. A reader can follow Alex’s juggling, acrobatics, departure from home, and performance while also noticing the family adults who accompany him. The book’s representation works through looking, not explanation.[4][2][9]

Incidental Two-Mother Family

ALA’s children’s bibliography identifies Alex as a boy who loves to juggle and has two moms. The local catalog likewise describes the mothers waving goodbye and appearing in the audience. That incidental structure matters. Earlier and later LGBTQ-family books often make family legitimacy the subject; The Entertainer lets family context remain present without becoming the problem. The result is a short visual narrative in which a child’s talent, not adult controversy, drives the story.[5][1][3]

Performance And Audience

The performance setting gives the mothers a specific public role. They are not only household figures; they are spectators at Alex’s show. That placement broadens the book beyond a private domestic scene, even though the story remains quiet. The child moves from home into a public stage, and the family follows into the audience. In collection terms, the book connects family representation with visibility, spectatorship, and a child’s own creative identity.[1][4][10]

Willhoite’s Range

Placed beside Daddy’s Roommate and Daddy’s Wedding, The Entertainer shows Willhoite working in a different register. Instead of direct explanation about divorce, gay fathers, or commitment ceremony, the book uses silent sequencing and performance. That range helps visitors see that early Alyson-associated LGBTQ-family books were not a single formula. The same creator could make an explanatory gay-father book, a pre-marriage ceremony book, and a wordless two-mother story.[7][8][6]

Timeline

  1. 1990Alyson family booksDaddy’s Roommate and Heather Has Two Mommies help define Alyson Wonderland’s early family line.[6]
  2. 1992PublicationThe Entertainer appears from Alyson Publications / Alyson Wonderland.[2][4]
  3. 1992Alyson peer titlesOther Alyson-connected collection titles from the same period use fantasy and family explanation.[6][1]
  4. 1996Daddy’s WeddingWillhoite later publishes Daddy’s Wedding.[11][12]
  5. 2000sBibliography useALA lists the title in a children’s LGBTQ resource bibliography.[5]
  6. 2000sWordless-book listsWordless-book bibliographies preserve the title as a form example.[9][10]

Explore Connections

Browse direct links, shared themes, and nearby publication dates.

Linked records

Same creator

Daddy’s Wedding

Both are Michael Willhoite books, but one is wordless and one centers a ceremony.

References [7][11]

Earlier gay-father title

Daddy's Roommate

The titles show Willhoite working with different family structures and narrative forms.

References [6][5]

Alyson network

Heather Has Two Mommies

Both belong to the Alyson network of early LGBTQ-family books for children.

References [6]

Alyson fantasy peer

The Daddy Machine

Alyson’s children’s line included both wordless realism and comic fantasy.

References [6]

Shared themes

Two mothers

Heather Has Two Mommies

The Alyson Wonderland edition that carried Heather from community publication into a wider gay and lesbian publishing network.

Two mothers

Belinda's Bouquet

A body-acceptance picture book in which Daniel's two mothers help Belinda understand that bodies, like flowers, need different kinds of care.

Two mothers

Families, a Coloring Book

A Michael Willhoite coloring book that presents many family structures, including two mothers and two fathers.

Two mothers

Gloria Goes to Gay Pride

An Alyson Wonderland picture book that places a child-facing story in the public setting of Gay Pride.

Nearby dates

Published 1992

A Boy's Best Friend

An Alyson Wonderland picture book about asthma, bullying, a longed-for dog, and a two-mother household.

Published 1992

Ghost Pains

A young adult novel by Jane Severance about two sisters, their mother, alcoholism, and lesbian family context.

1992 first edition

The Daddy Machine

An Alyson Wonderland fantasy about children with two mothers and a machine that produces dads.

Published 1992

The Day They Put a Tax on Rainbows

An Alyson Wonderland collection of original fairy tales with children from same-sex-parent families.

Citation

The Entertainer. Michael Willhoite. Alyson Publications / Alyson Wonderland, 1992. Tarpey-Schwed LGBT Families Children's Book Special Collection, Mechanics' Institute. Collection ID: KB-013.

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Sources

Image from Internet Archive.

  1. Local collection catalog record for The Entertainer · catalog
  2. Open Library edition record · library
  3. Open Library work record · library
  4. Internet Archive metadata · library
  5. ALA Rainbow Round Table children’s bibliography · ala
  6. Publishers Weekly profile of Alyson Books · trade
  7. Open Library author record for Michael Willhoite · library
  8. Alp Arts profile for Michael Willhoite · creator
  9. Michigan State University wordless-book bibliography · bibliography
  10. Annotated wordless-book bibliography · bibliography
  11. Publishers Weekly review of Daddy’s Wedding · trade
  12. Kirkus review of Daddy’s Wedding · trade
  13. ACLU Oregon challenged-book list · legal
  14. Congress.gov record for Defense of Marriage Act · government
  15. PBS NewsHour on Massachusetts same-sex marriages · news