Milly, Molly and Different Dads
Gill Pittar; illustrated by Cris Morrell
Published 2004
Book
A Milly, Molly values-series picture book about children whose fathers and family arrangements differ.
Overview
Milly, Molly and Different Dads is a 2004 Milly, Molly picture book by Gill Pittar, illustrated by Cris Morrell. Books for Keeps reviewed it in January 2005, identifying the book as a small-format paperback in a New Zealand series that promoted acceptance of diversity. The story begins with Sophie upset because her father has left home. Her teacher then opens a class conversation about fathers, revealing children whose fathers are ill, absent, disabled, in the army, adoptive, blind, deaf, or part of a two-dad family. The collection value lies in that broad frame: the book does not isolate gay fathers, but places them within a classroom language of difference and care.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Many Kinds Of Fathers
The book's most important structure is accumulation. Sophie is distressed because her father has left, and the teacher responds by asking children to talk about fathers. The class includes many different situations: illness, military absence, disability, adoption, one dad, and two dads. That list structure keeps the two-dad reference from becoming exceptional. It also makes the item useful for showing how early family-diversity books sometimes worked through comparison rather than through a plot devoted to one family.[1][2]
Classroom Values Education
Books for Keeps saw the title as a useful starting point for discussing different families, while also noting its didactic quality. That is an important curatorial point rather than a defect to hide. The Milly, Molly books were designed around explicit values, and this record presents the title as a teaching object: simple, purposeful, and designed for conversation.[2][4]
Series Life And Reissue Trail
The local catalog uses a 2004 date, Books for Keeps reviewed an early Milly Molly Books edition, and later bookseller records show Sweet Cherry Publishing reissue data. A Portuguese catalog record also documents a translation, Todos os pais sao diferentes. That edition trail helps the collection record do more than identify a single copy. It shows that this values-series story moved through reviews, reissues, and translation while keeping its core premise: children can talk about fathers without assuming all families look alike.[1][2][4][5]
Timeline
- 2003Translation TrailA Portuguese catalog record lists Todos os pais sao diferentes as a translation of Milly, Molly and Different Dads.[5]
- 2004Collection DateThe local catalog records the title as a 2004 item.[1]
- 2005Books For Keeps ReviewBooks for Keeps reviewed the book in its January 2005 issue.[2]
- 2014Later ReissueBookseller records show a later Sweet Cherry Publishing edition, evidence of continued series circulation.[4]
Edition And Translation Trail
Public records show the title moving through early edition, translation, and later reissue contexts.
2003
Todos os pais sao diferentes
Portuguese translation cataloged in the Azores collective library record.
2004
Milly, Molly and Different Dads
Collection date for the English-language title.
2014
Sweet Cherry Publishing reissue
Later bookseller records show continued circulation.
Explore Connections
Browse direct links, shared themes, and nearby publication dates.
Linked records
The Great Big Book of Families
Both titles use a broad survey structure to place same-sex parents among many family forms rather than treating them as the only subject.
All Families Are Special
The item belongs with classroom-friendly books that help young children talk about varied household structures through simple examples.
The Lopez Family Science Fair Day
Milly, Molly and Different Dads offers a brief two-dad example inside a many-fathers lesson; The Lopez Family Science Fair Day builds a full school story around a two-father household.
Shared themes
Families, a Coloring Book
A Michael Willhoite coloring book that presents many family structures, including two mothers and two fathers.
All Families Are Different
A nonfiction activity book that explains many family forms, including families with same-sex parents.
When Grown-Ups Fall in Love
A numbered and signed preschool picture book about different adult couples and their children.
It's Okay to Be Different
A Todd Parr picture book that places two-mother and two-father families inside a broader early-childhood language of acceptance.
Nearby dates
Flying Free
A firefly-narrated picture book in which a two-mother family appears inside a story about empathy and release.
Focus on MY Family
A COLAGE youth-created anthology that documents children and young adults with LGBT parents speaking in their own forms.
Girls Will Be Boys Will Be Girls
A gender-expression coloring book that asks children to question expected roles and activities.
Jean a deux mamans
A French board book in which a little wolf's family includes two mothers.
Citation
Milly, Molly and Different Dads. Gill Pittar; illustrated by Cris Morrell. Milly Molly Books, 2004. Tarpey-Schwed LGBT Families Children's Book Special Collection, Mechanics' Institute. Collection ID: KB-065.
Showing Plain text citation format.
Sources
Cover image from Open Library.
- Tarpey-Schwed catalog seed record · catalog
- Books for Keeps review of Milly, Molly and Different Dads · review
- Goodreads record for Milly, Molly and Different Dads · bibliographic
- Better World Books record for Milly, Molly and Different Dads · bookseller
- Azores collective library record for Todos os pais sao diferentes · library catalog
- Children's Books Portraying LGBT Parents bibliography · bibliography