What Are Parents?
Kyme Fox-Lee and Susan Fox-Lee; illustrated by Randy Jennings
Published 2004/2005
Collection Context
A small-press family-diversity picture book that defines parenthood through care across several family forms.
Overview
What Are Parents? is a small-press picture book by Kyme Fox-Lee and Susan Fox-Lee, with Randy Jennings identified in public records as illustrator. The local catalog describes a newborn baby observing different families in a hospital nursery before two mothers arrive to take the baby home. Public listings from AllBookstores, Bol.com, and CiNii support the StoryTyme Publishing record, while resource lists continued to circulate the title as a family-diversity book. Its importance is contextual: it defines parenthood by care, devotion, and daily responsibility rather than by one family structure.[1][2][4][5][6]
Hospital Nursery Frame
The local catalog and public descriptions agree on the central device: a baby observes parents and family members around a hospital setting. This gives the book a simple structure for comparing families at the moment a child enters a household. The two mothers arrive at the end of that sequence, which places them inside a wider account of parenthood rather than isolating them as the whole subject.[1][2][4]
Parenthood By Care
The book's definition of a parent centers care, teaching, play, faith, and devotion. That language is important because it moves the question away from biology or household form and toward responsibility. In the collection, this makes What Are Parents? a useful companion to broader family-diversity books. It does not present one family type as an exception; it asks how many families can be understood through the work of care.[1][2][4]
Resource-List Circulation
The title appears in family-building and LGBTQ-family resource lists, including Randy Tarpey-Schwed's public checklist. That circulation is modest but meaningful. It suggests the book functioned as a practical recommendation for families, educators, and caregivers looking for inclusive materials. The record is therefore strongest as a small-press resource-list object, not as a heavily reviewed or widely challenged trade title.[6][7][8]
Timeline
- 2004Early publication metadataCiNii and Bol.com give 2004 dates for the main title.[5][4]
- 2005Bookseller publication dateAllBookstores records a January 15, 2005 publication date for the hardcover.[2]
- 2005Local catalog dateThe local collection catalog records the title under 2005.[1]
- 2007Daddy EditionGoodreads and bookseller records identify a later Daddy Edition variant.[9][10]
- 2010sResource-list lifeFamily and fertility resource lists continued to recommend or index the title.[7][8]
Parenthood And Family-Diversity Variants
Related records define parenthood and family structure in different ways.
1997
Who's in a Family?
Question-form family-diversity picture book.
2003
The Family Book
Mainstream many-family picture book.
2004/2005
What Are Parents?
Small-press parenthood definition with two mothers.
2007
What Are Parents? The Daddy Edition
Related father-focused variant recorded outside this collection item.
Explore Connections
Browse direct links, shared themes, and nearby publication dates.
Linked records
The Family Book
Both books define family across several structures, though Todd Parr's book has a much larger mainstream publication context.
Asha’s Mums
Asha's Mums foregrounds school recognition of two mothers, while What Are Parents? places two mothers inside a broader parenthood definition.
Who's in a Family?
Both titles use an early-childhood question form to show many household arrangements, including same-sex parents.
Shared themes
Is Your Family Like Mine?
An early picture book in which a child with two mothers asks classmates what makes a family.
My Family, Your Family, Our Family
A community coloring book representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender parent families.
Your Family, My Family
An early many-family picture book that includes a child whose family has two mothers.
Chag Sameach! = Happy Holidays
A Jewish holiday book illustrated with photographs of diverse families and community observances.
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
What Are Parents?. Kyme Fox-Lee and Susan Fox-Lee; illustrated by Randy Jennings. StoryTyme Publishing, 2004. Tarpey-Schwed LGBT Families Children's Book Special Collection, Mechanics' Institute. Collection ID: KB-078.
Showing Plain text citation format.
Sources
Cover image from Open Library.
- Local collection catalog record for What Are Parents? · catalog
- AllBookstores listing for What Are Parents? · bibliographic
- ThriftBooks listing for What Are Parents? · bibliographic
- Bol.com listing for What Are Parents? · bibliographic
- CiNii author/title record for Randy Jennings and What Are Parents? · library
- Checklist of Children's Books Featuring LGBT Family Members · bibliography
- Forever Families Through Adoption booklist · bibliography
- Informed Fertility multimedia resource list · bibliography
- Goodreads record for What Are Parents? The Daddy Edition · bibliographic
- ThriftBooks listing for What Are Parents? The Daddy Edition · bibliographic
- Open Library cover image for ISBN 9780975369906 · image
