Cover of The Child in the Fathers' Heart.

Cover image from Lulu.

The Child in the Fathers' Heart

Creator

Paul Janson; illustrated by Kevin Scott Gierman

Date

Published 2011

Format

Book

A print-on-demand adoption-origin picture book about a child adopted by two fathers.

Two fathersAdoptionGay parentsPrint-on-demand booksFamily-origin stories

Contact About Access Back to catalog

Overview

The Child in the Fathers' Heart is a 2011 Lulu picture book by Paul Janson, locally cataloged with Kevin Scott Gierman as a contributor. Lulu describes the work as a picture book for adopted children of gay parents, centered on a child adopted by two fathers. The Mechanics record adds the local narrative shape: two papas search for the child already held in their hearts and eventually bring him home through adoption. The title is especially useful as a small, print-on-demand adoption-origin record, paired in the collection with a mothers' companion volume and marked by visible title variation across public sources.^[1][2][3][4]

The Child In The Heart

The Lulu description identifies the book as an adoption story for children of gay parents and states the central idea: children begin in the hearts of their parents however they become part of a family. The local catalog expands that metaphor into a search narrative. Two fathers live together, feel that a child is missing, look for him, and finally bring him home through adoption. The metaphor turns longing, search, and legal family formation into a child-facing origin story.^[2][1][4]

Print-On-Demand Family Literature

Lulu's product page gives a concrete production context: color interior, square format, paperback saddle-stitch binding, and a small page count. Those details matter because they mark a route through which specialized LGBTQ-family books could circulate without a conventional trade publisher. The collection includes many better-known library and picture-book titles; this record shows another path, where families and small creators used print-on-demand services to address specific family-origin questions.^[2][3][4]

Companion Parent-Gender Variants

The local catalog pairs the fathers' book with a mothers' companion title and describes the two as nearly identical except for parent genders. That makes the record useful for studying variant books: the same family-origin structure can be adapted to different parent configurations. Public evidence for the fathers' title is stronger than for the mothers' companion, but the pair still reveals a production strategy aimed at parallel representation.^[1][4][5][6]

Title And Credit Variation

This item also demonstrates why public records need restraint. The local title uses Fathers' Heart, while the Lulu page uses Fathers' Hearts; Open Library records the Lulu title form; the cover image appears to use the singular form. Local records list Gierman before Janson, while Lulu credits Janson as author. These differences are not a reason to omit the item. They are a reason to record the public evidence carefully and rely on the held object for final bibliographic detail.^[1][2][3][8]

Timeline

2011Lulu publicationLulu dates the fathers' title to October 11, 2011.^[2]
2011Checklist listingThe public checklist lists the fathers' and mothers' titles by Paul Janson, Lulu.com, and 2011.^[4]
2012Open Library recordOpen Library records the Lulu edition with ISBN and title variation.^[3]

Adoption-Origin Comparisons

Related records explain adoption into same-sex-parent families through different narrative forms.

2003

How My Family Came to Be: Daddy, Papa, and Me

Two-father adoption-origin picture book.

2002

Felicia's Favorite Story

Two-mother adoption-origin picture book.

2011