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Mechanics' Institute

Tarpey-Schwed LGBT Families Children's Book Special Collection

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Cover of Monday Is One Day.

Cover image from Open Library.

Image source

Monday Is One Day

Creator

Arthur A. Levine; illustrated by Julian Hector

Date

Published 2011

Format

Book

A weekday counting picture book whose family scenes include a gay-father household.

Counting booksDays of the weekWorking parentsMany kinds of familiesTwo fathers
Contact About AccessBack to catalog

Overview

Monday Is One Day is Arthur A. Levine and Julian Hector's picture book about the shape of a working week. The rhyming count moves from Monday toward the weekend as a parent and child hold ordinary time together in memory and anticipation. The collection value lies in the illustrations' field of families. Local cataloging identifies a gay male couple with a son among the families shown, while trade and author-page sources describe a book attentive to varied households. That placement matters: the two-father family is part of an early-childhood concept book about days, work, waiting, and affection, not an explanatory problem plot. The record therefore connects LGBTQ-family representation to counting-book form, parent-child routines, and the post-2000 movement of same-sex-parent households into ordinary picture-book scenes.[1][2][3][5]

Weekday Counting Frame

The book's structure is deliberately familiar: weekdays are counted as units of separation before the shared time of the weekend. Open Library summarizes the story as a rhyming countdown in which a father and child find ways to stay connected while waiting. That concept-book frame is important because it gives the title a use beyond any single family category. A young reader can follow number, rhythm, routine, and feeling at once, while the pictures make family variation part of the same ordinary sequence.[2][3]

Many Families In The Pictures

The local catalog records a gay male couple with a son among the book's families, and Levine's own title page foregrounds the book's range of family configurations through collected review language. That evidence supports a careful interpretation: the book includes a two-father household as one family in a wider visual field. It does not make same-sex parenting the plot's problem. The distinction is curatorial, because it places the item with broad-family picture books and concept books rather than only with direct explanation titles.[1][3][5][4]

Parent-Child Time

The emotional center is weekday absence and reunion. The child counts the days until more time with a loved adult, a pattern recognizable across family structures. That focus lets the book treat LGBTQ-family visibility through everyday care: the relevant question is not whether a family must be defended, but how a child experiences attachment, work schedules, and ritual. Read beside books about school visits, weddings, and family formation, Monday Is One Day represents another register of collection history: domestic time made visible through a standard early-reader device.[2][5][1]

Publication And Reception Trail

The source trail is broad enough for a solid public record. Library metadata gives the Scholastic Press edition, ISBNs, Library of Congress control number, and OCLC number. The author page gives an April 1, 2011 publication date and preserves a cluster of review references, while Publishers Weekly and Kirkus provide trade-review context. Those sources are useful together because they show both the object's bibliographic stability and its reception as a picture book about families and waiting, not only as a subject-heading item.[2][6][3][4][5]

Timeline

  1. 2009Library control numberThe Library of Congress control number belongs to the prepublication cataloging trail.[6]
  2. 2010Metadata date streamOpen Library includes a 2010 publication-date stream for the Scholastic Press first edition.[2]
  3. 2011-04-01Author-page dateArthur A. Levine's title page gives April 1, 2011 as the official publication date.[3]
  4. 2011Collection display yearThe local collection record also uses 2011 for the title.[1]
  5. 2011Trade receptionKirkus and Publishers Weekly preserve trade-review context for the book.[5][4]
  6. 2019Publisher biography contextLevine Querido's about page records Levine's later publishing role.[11]
  7. 2026-06-07Image verificationThe Open Library cover image was technically verified for this synthesis wave.[13]

Publication Trail

Selected bibliographic points for the Scholastic Press edition.

2009

LCCN

Library of Congress prepublication control number.

2011

Scholastic Press

Collection display year and author-page publication date.

2026

Cover source

Open Library cover candidate used for the external research display.

Explore Connections

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

Linked records

Counting-book peer

123: A Family Counting Book

Both titles use counting or concept-book structure while including two-father family representation.

References [1]

Two-father routine

Stella Brings the Family

Both records place two dads inside ordinary child-centered routines rather than a single-topic explanation.

References [1]

Many-family anchor

The Family Book

Both belong to the collection's broad-family taxonomy trail, where same-sex-parent households appear among many family forms.

References [1]

Packet peer

The Great Big Book of Families

Both books make varied family structures visible within a broad early-childhood frame.

References [1][3]

Shared themes

Many kinds of families

Families, a Coloring Book

A Michael Willhoite coloring book that presents many family structures, including two mothers and two fathers.

Many kinds of families

All Families Are Different

A nonfiction activity book that explains many family forms, including families with same-sex parents.

Many kinds of families

When Grown-Ups Fall in Love

A numbered and signed preschool picture book about different adult couples and their children.

Many kinds of families

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

Published 2011

A Tale of Two Mommies

A VanitaBooks companion picture book using questions and everyday care to present a child with two mothers.

Published 2011

ABCs with Keesha. My Family!

An alphabet and activity companion to the Keesha/My Family books for children of LGBTQ parents.

Published 2011

Donovan's Big Day

A two-mother wedding picture book centered on a child's ritual preparation and role as ring bearer.

Published 2011

I Love Ewe

A Lulu children's book using animal allegory to address same-sex love, prejudice, and adoption.

Citation

Monday Is One Day. Arthur A. Levine; illustrated by Julian Hector. Scholastic Press, 2011. Tarpey-Schwed LGBT Families Children's Book Special Collection, Mechanics' Institute. Collection ID: KB-124.

Showing Plain text citation format.

Sources

Cover image from Open Library.

  1. Local collection catalog record for Monday is One Day · catalog
  2. Open Library ISBN metadata for Monday Is One Day · library
  3. Arthur A. Levine title page for Monday Is One Day · creator
  4. Publishers Weekly review of Monday Is One Day · review
  5. Kirkus review of Monday Is One Day · review
  6. Library of Congress record for Monday Is One Day · library
  7. Library of Congress MARCXML for Monday Is One Day · library
  8. Library of Congress MODS for Monday Is One Day · library
  9. Scholastic ISBN page for Monday Is One Day · publisher
  10. Google Books ISBN search for Monday Is One Day · library
  11. Levine Querido about page · publisher_context
  12. Bookroo profile for Julian Hector · creator
  13. Open Library cover image for Monday Is One Day · image