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Mechanics' Institute

Tarpey-Schwed LGBT Families Children's Book Special Collection

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Cover of A Boy's Best Friend.

Image from Open Library.

Image source

A Boy's Best Friend

Creator

Joan Alden; illustrated by Catherine Hopkins

Date

Published 1992

Format

Book

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

Alyson WonderlandTwo mothersAsthmaBullyingDogs and toysSelf-acceptance
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Overview

A Boy's Best Friend is a 1992 Alyson Wonderland picture book by Joan Alden, illustrated by Catherine Hopkins. It follows Will, a seven-year-old with asthma who wants a dog, cannot safely have one, and receives a stuffed dog that becomes emotionally important. The local catalog records Will's home with his mother and Jeanne, while public records frame the story around asthma, bullying, toys, dogs, and self-acceptance. That combination makes the item useful inside the collection: it shows an early LGBTQ children's imprint publishing a story in which a two-mother family is part of a wider account of childhood difference, health limitation, teasing, and imaginative consolation.[1][2][3][4][7]

Family Structure Within A Wider Story

The book's family representation is quiet but important. The local catalog identifies Will's mother and Jeanne as the household adults, while public descriptions emphasize asthma, teasing, a birthday wish, and the stuffed dog. That distribution is part of the item's value. It does not make Will's family structure the only problem in the story. Instead, the two-mother household is woven into a child's health limits, school vulnerability, and desire for companionship. This makes the book a useful counterpoint to titles that center family explanation more directly.[1][2][3][4]

Asthma, Difference, And School Life

Public cataloging and bookseller summaries consistently identify asthma as a central plot condition. Will cannot have the dog he wants and is also exposed to teasing at school. The book therefore belongs not only to a two-mother family group, but also to a broader collection pattern around children who are marked as different by bodies, families, or peer culture. The stuffed dog becomes a small imaginative object through which the story addresses loneliness, care, and the wish to participate in ordinary childhood life.[2][3][4]

Alyson Wonderland Setting

A Boy's Best Friend appeared during the early Alyson Wonderland period, when the imprint was publishing books for and about children in lesbian and gay families. The collection can read it beside better-known Alyson records without overstating its own reception. The title's significance lies in how it extends the imprint's range: not only family explanation, but also health, school, fantasy, and emotional resilience. Its Lambda Literary finalist listing further shows that the book was visible inside LGBTQ literary networks soon after publication.[2][9][6][8]

Photographic Illustration And Creator Context

The public record preserves Catherine Hopkins as illustrator, and reader descriptions refer to hand-colored photographic imagery. That visual form matters because several early LGBTQ-family picture books used direct domestic scenes to make family life legible. The held copy can deepen this point through object photography, title-page credits, and interior examination. Even without that copy-level detail, the item already connects author, illustrator, imprint, and a disability story in a compact early-1990s publication history.[4][5][6][2]

Timeline

  1. 1992PublicationOpen Library records the book as a 1992 Alyson Wonderland publication.[2]
  2. 1993Lambda Literary finalistLambda Literary listed A Boy's Best Friend in the children's and young adult literature category for books published in 1992.[6]
  3. 1994Imprint contextPublishers Weekly described the wider gay and lesbian children's publishing environment that included Alyson Wonderland.[9]
  4. 1995Educational bibliographyAn ERIC-hosted bibliography listed the title among children's books that include gay or lesbian families.[7]

Known Record Trail

The title is clearest as a 1992 Alyson Wonderland record with later catalog and bibliography traces.

1992

Alyson Wonderland edition

Open Library and bookseller records preserve the ISBN and publication setting.

1993

Award-list afterlife

Lambda Literary records the title as a finalist.

1995

Educational bibliography

ERIC bibliography evidence places the book in school and library resource conversations.

Explore Connections

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

Linked records

Alyson Wonderland network

Heather Has Two Mommies

Both books moved through the Alyson children's publishing network, though Heather is the earlier and better-known two-mother family landmark.

References [9][8]

Fantasy and two-mother families

The Daddy Machine

Both Alyson Wonderland books use imaginative premises in stories connected to children with two mothers.

References [8][2]

School and teasing context

How Would You Feel if Your Dad Was Gay?

Both titles use school or peer pressure to show how children negotiate family and difference.

References [7][2]

Early LGBTQ children's awards

The Day They Put a Tax on Rainbows

Lambda Literary listed both Joan Alden/Catherine Hopkins titles in the same children's and young adult literature category.

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

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.

Published 1992

The Entertainer

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

Citation

A Boy's Best Friend. Joan Alden; illustrated by Catherine Hopkins. Alyson Wonderland, 1992. Tarpey-Schwed LGBT Families Children's Book Special Collection, Mechanics' Institute. Collection ID: KB-076.

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Sources

Image from Open Library.

  1. Local collection catalog record for A Boy's Best Friend · catalog
  2. Open Library ISBN record for A Boy's Best Friend · library
  3. Goodreads record for A Boy's Best Friend · reader_catalog
  4. ThriftBooks listing for A Boy's Best Friend · bookseller
  5. Poets & Writers directory entry for Joan Alden · creator_profile
  6. Lambda Literary, 5th Annual Lambda Literary Awards · award
  7. ERIC bibliography of children's books including gay or lesbian families · education_bibliography
  8. Children's Books Portraying LGBT Parents checklist · bibliography
  9. Publishers Weekly, Making It: Gay & Lesbian · publishing_trade