The Lopez Family Science Fair Day

Overview

The Lopez Family Science Fair Day is a 2011 Dodi Press picture book by Monica Bey-Clarke and Cheril N. Clarke, illustrated by Aiswarya Mukherjee. Public bibliographic records describe it as the first story in a series about Felix Lopez and his two dads, a family of scientists and inventors. The local catalog adds the central narrative detail: Felix is bullied because he is smart, not because of his fathers, and he responds by telling the truth, repairing his airplane, and continuing the science-fair project. This makes the item valuable as ordinary representation. A two-father family is present in the structure of care, skill, and home life, while the plot turns on school conduct and resilience.^{[1][2][3][4][6][8]}

An Ordinary Two-Dad Home

The book's representation works through domestic competence and school support. Felix's two fathers are inventors who help him make a remote-controlled airplane; their role is practical, affectionate, and ordinary. The local record notes that the bullying Felix faces is not directed at his family structure. That distinction is important. The item does not stage the two-dad household as a social problem. Instead, it places that household inside a familiar school achievement plot, where parents help a child persist after a setback.^[1][2]

Science Fair, Bullying, And Repair

The science-fair plot gives the book a useful genre position inside the collection. Felix wants to make something, receives help at home, is tripped by a classmate, and repairs the project. The lesson is not only about family acceptance; it is about honesty, problem solving, and a child's response to humiliation. Public descriptions call the book the first story in a series about a family of scientists. That series frame helps explain why the representation feels incidental but still deliberate.^[1][2]

Dodi Press And The MyFamily! Network

The item belongs with the Keesha titles because the same creators, illustrator, publisher network, and family-representation aims recur across the records. MyFamily! Products and public LGBTQ-family databases list the Lopez book beside Keesha & Her Two Moms Go Swimming and other materials for children of gay and lesbian parents. That network context gives the item more depth than the sparse trade-review trail alone. It shows a small publisher building a connected set of child-facing stories around different LGBTQ family forms.^[3][6][7][8]

Timeline

1. 2011PublicationBibliographic records list The Lopez Family Science Fair Day as a 2011 Dodi Press hardcover.^[2]
2. 2011MyFamily Series ContextPublic author listings connect the book to Keesha & Her Two Moms Go Swimming and other MyFamily! titles.^[4][3]
3. 2014Multicultural LGBTQ Book ListA Day of Diversity handout lists the title among multicultural LGBTQ children's books.^[8]

MyFamily! Context

A small set of related titles around children with gay or lesbian parents.

Citation

The Lopez Family Science Fair Day. Monica Bey-Clarke and Cheril N. Clarke; illustrated by Aiswarya Mukherjee. Dodi Press, 2011. Tarpey-Schwed LGBT Families Children's Book Special Collection, Mechanics' Institute. Collection ID: KB-064.

Sources

Cover image from Open Library.

1. Tarpey-Schwed catalog seed record · catalog
2. AllBookstores record for The Lopez Family: Science Fair Day · bibliographic
3. MyFamily! Products profile for Cheril N. Clarke · creator site
4. Goodreads author listing for Monica Bey-Clarke · bibliographic
5. Goodreads illustrator listing for Aiswarya Mukherjee · bibliographic
6. Mombian database page for Monica Bey-Clarke · database
7. Queerspawn Resource Project children's picture books list · resource list
8. ALSC Day of Diversity speaker handout · bibliography