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Mechanics' Institute

Tarpey-Schwed LGBT Families Children's Book Special Collection

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Expanded reprint edition cover.

External cover image from Open Library or Wikimedia.

Image source

The Dragon and the Doctor

Creator

Barbara Danish

Date

Expanded reprint edition, 1995

Format

Book Translation Or Edition

A Feminist Press picture book in the collection's small-press publishing cluster.

Feminist PressNonsexist children's booksSmall-press publishingEdition history
Contact About AccessBack to catalog

Overview

The 1995 expanded edition of The Dragon and the Doctor changes the collection meaning of Barbara Danish's early Feminist Press picture book. The 1971 first edition is most important as a first-book and nonsexist publishing object; the 1995 edition reopens that earlier work after more than two decades and adds a character, Lucy, with a mother and a mommy. That addition makes the expanded edition a bridge between feminist anti-stereotype children's publishing and later explicit lesbian-parent representation. The item should not be treated as a simple duplicate of the first edition. It documents revision, recovery, and a changed representational field: by 1995, a feminist children's book from the early 1970s could be expanded to name a family structure that the first edition did not directly include.[1][2][6]

Expanded Edition As Evidence

The expanded edition matters because it changes what the work can show. The 1971 book belongs to the early Feminist Press effort to reshape children's literature through nonsexist stories; the 1995 book carries that earlier project into a period when lesbian-parent representation had become more visible but remained contested. A revised edition is therefore not just a reprint. It records a publisher returning to an origin text and making it legible for a changed public conversation.[2][3][6]

Lucy And Two Mothers

The local catalog identifies Lucy as the key addition in the 1995 edition: a character with a momma and a mommy. That detail gives the object a different collection role from the first edition. It is not the first Feminist Press book anymore; it is a later revision that brings two-mother family representation into a feminist children's-book text. The copy-level claim remains tied to Mechanics' local record, but it is central to why the expanded edition belongs beside Heather and When Megan.[1][3][13]

Feminist Press Afterlife

Feminist Press was founded to recover women's writing and challenge the limits of existing literary fields. Returning to The Dragon and the Doctor in 1995 connects that founding mission to children's books again. The object makes a publishing-history argument: feminist presses did not only create new books; they could also revise earlier work as social vocabulary changed. That afterlife is visible in the edition shelf between the 1971 and 1995 records.[6][2]

Paired With Lollipop Power

The expanded edition becomes more interesting when placed near Lollipop Power books. Both Feminist Press and Lollipop Power challenged gender roles in children's publishing, but they did so through different local networks and different book forms. When Megan Went Away and Lots of Mommies make family structure more central; The Dragon and the Doctor begins from fantasy and medical care. Together, the cluster shows how anti-sex-role publishing could lead toward several kinds of family representation.[7][8][9]

Timeline

  1. 1970Feminist Press foundedFeminist Press began as a project to recover and publish women's writing.[6]
  2. 1971First Dragon editionThe Dragon and the Doctor appeared in the press's earliest children's publishing context.[4][2]
  3. 1970sLollipop Power contextLollipop Power developed another feminist children's publishing path in North Carolina.[7][8]
  4. 1979When Megan Went AwayJane Severance's Lollipop Power book became a key early lesbian-parent picture book.[9][11]
  5. 1995Expanded Dragon editionThe Dragon and the Doctor returned in an expanded Feminist Press edition.[2][3]
  6. 2020sRecovery through scholarshipRetrospective accounts continue to recover feminist and LGBTQ children's publishing history.[11][12]

Dragon Edition Shelf

The two Dragon records show the difference between an early nonsexist precursor and a later expanded edition.

1971

First edition

Feminist Press precursor object centered on nonsexist children's publishing.

1995

Expanded edition

Later edition that the local catalog connects to explicit two-mother family representation.

Explore Connections

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

Linked records

Edition pair

The Dragon and the Doctor

The two Dragon records let the collection show how one Feminist Press title changed across editions.

References [2][3]

Feminist press context

Lollipop Power

Feminist Press and Lollipop Power both challenged gender roles in children's books through small-press publishing.

References [7][8][6]

Early lesbian-parent picture book

When Megan Went Away

When Megan Went Away gives the cluster a later, more explicit lesbian-parent family record.

References [9][11]

Heather comparison

Heather Has Two Mommies

Heather provides a later and more publicly challenged two-mother family title for comparison.

References [13][12]

Shared themes

Feminist Press

The Dragon and the Doctor

A Feminist Press picture book in the collection's small-press publishing cluster.

Nonsexist children's books

Did You Ever?

An early Lollipop Power picture book challenging gendered expectations for children.

Nonsexist children's books

Martin's Father

A Lollipop Power picture book centering nurturing fatherhood and domestic care.

Edition history

Heather Has Two Mommies

A 1989 picture book about a child with two mothers, represented here through its In Other Words first-edition history and later public life.

Nearby dates

Published 1995

Baby Be-Bop

A Francesca Lia Block young adult record used to map queer adolescence, family, gender, and access history.

Published 1995

From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun

A Jacqueline Woodson novel about a Black adolescent processing his mother's relationship with a white woman.

Published 1995

My Two Uncles

A picture book about a child, her gay uncle and his partner, and a family conflict over recognition.

Pride Pack mystery, 1995

The Case of the Missing Mother

A young adult LGBTQ mystery from the Pride Pack sequence.

Citation

The Dragon and the Doctor. Barbara Danish. Feminist Press at CUNY, 1995. Tarpey-Schwed LGBT Families Children's Book Special Collection, Mechanics' Institute. Collection ID: KB-033.

Showing Plain text citation format.

Sources

External cover image from Open Library or Wikimedia.

  1. Mechanics Institute local catalog record · catalog
  2. Feminist Press record for The Dragon and the Doctor · publisher
  3. Consortium record for The Dragon and the Doctor · distributor
  4. National Library of Australia record for The Dragon and the Doctor · library
  5. Open Library record for The Dragon and the Doctor · library
  6. Feminist Press history · publisher
  7. UNC finding aid for Lollipop Power records · archive
  8. WUNC feature on Lollipop Power · news
  9. Open Library record for When Megan Went Away · library
  10. National Library of Australia record for When Megan Went Away · library
  11. Mombian retrospective on When Megan Went Away · article
  12. New Yorker article on LGBTQ books for children · article
  13. Lumen profile on LGBTQ children's picture books · education
  14. CiNii record for Lots of Mommies · library
  15. KPIPA metadata for Korean When Megan Went Away · metadata
  16. Aladin hardback record for Korean When Megan Went Away · bookseller
  17. Aladin stapled record for Korean When Megan Went Away · bookseller
  18. Wikimedia Commons portrait of Jane Severance · image