Mom and Mum Are Getting Married

Overview

Mom and Mum Are Getting Married is a 2004 Canadian picture book by Ken Setterington, illustrated by Alice Priestley and published by Second Story Press. The story follows Rosie and Jack as their two mothers prepare to marry, with children, grandparents, and relatives taking part in the wedding. The title is important because it was published in Canada during a period when same-sex marriage recognition was changing rapidly, before the 2005 federal Civil Marriage Act. The collection record also notes a first U.S. edition, which should be confirmed from the copy. Publicly, the item offers a Canadian counterpoint to U.S. marriage-equality books: the focus is not crisis, but family ceremony, legal context, and feminist children’s publishing.^{[20][21][24][1]}

Canadian Timing

The Canadian publication date gives the title historical weight. Toronto-area marriage recognition had begun before the federal Civil Marriage Act, and the book appeared in that period of changing law and public recognition. The story itself is domestic and celebratory, but its date places the wedding inside a larger legal transition. That context makes the book a useful counterpoint to U.S. titles shaped by California’s 2008 marriage window and by later national litigation. It shows how children's books in different countries registered marriage equality on different timelines.^[20][21][24]

Ordinary Ceremony

The local catalog describes Rosie wanting to be flower girl and Jack wanting to be ring bearer, with grandparents and uncles supporting the wedding. That ordinariness is part of the book's representational strategy. The wedding does not need to be defended before the family can participate in it. Instead, the narrative makes space for children's excitement, family roles, and ceremonial detail. This does not remove the legal significance of the marriage; it places that significance inside a recognizable family celebration.^[1][20][22]

Second Story Press Context

Second Story Press gives the item a meaningful publishing context. The press is known for feminist and socially engaged books for young readers, and its catalog frames Mom and Mum Are Getting Married within children’s access to diverse family stories. That matters because the book was not an isolated pamphlet or private family story. It entered a publisher list organized around social questions, gender, and rights. The later related title Mom Marries Mum! also shows how the press continued to make this family-wedding material available in another form.^[20][23]

Visual Family World

The local and review sources emphasize ceremony, family support, and a human domestic setting. Unlike Uncle Bobby's Wedding, which uses guinea-pig characters, this book uses an everyday human family. That choice gives the illustrations a different task: they must picture two mothers, children, relatives, dress, ritual, and household celebration without using animal distance. The book therefore belongs in the collection's visual history of same-sex marriage as something both socially specific and ordinary enough for a child reader to recognize.^[1][22][23]

Timeline

1. 2003Toronto recognition contextSame-sex marriage recognition begins in parts of Canada before federal legislation.^[24]
2. 2004Canadian publicationSecond Story Press publishes Mom and Mum Are Getting Married.^[20][21]
3. 2005Civil Marriage ActCanada's Civil Marriage Act receives royal assent.^[24]
4. 2005Local edition noteThe local catalog describes the Mechanics copy as a first U.S. edition.^[1]
5. 2008U.S. wedding peerUncle Bobby's Wedding appears in the United States.^[10]
6. 2011California wedding peerOperation Marriage and Donovan's Big Day expand the collection's same-sex wedding cluster.^[2][17]
7. 2020sPublisher afterlifeSecond Story Press keeps the title visible in its current catalog.^[20]
8. 2020sCritical contextScholarly discussion remains useful for reading the book's ordinariness and representational choices.^[23]

Canadian And U.S. Wedding Trail

The title gives the collection a Canadian counterpoint to U.S. marriage-equality books.

Citation

Mom and Mum Are Getting Married. Ken Setterington; illustrated by Alice Priestley. Second Story Press, 2004. Tarpey-Schwed LGBT Families Children's Book Special Collection, Mechanics' Institute. Collection ID: KB-125.

Sources

Cover image from Second Story Press.

1. Local collection catalog record for Mom and Mum Are Getting Married · catalog
2. PM Press record for Operation Marriage · publisher
3. PM Press product sheet for Operation Marriage · publisher
4. Cynthia Chin-Lee page for Operation Marriage · creator
5. Midwest Book Review notice for Operation Marriage · review
6. Open Library ISBN record for Operation Marriage · library
7. ACLU Northern California record for In re Marriage Cases · legal
8. Cornell Legal Information Institute record for Hollingsworth v. Perry · legal
9. Midland Reporter-Telegram list of redesignated books · news
10. Open Library ISBN record for Uncle Bobby's Wedding · library
11. Kirkus review of Uncle Bobby's Wedding · review
12. ALA Top Ten Most Challenged Books list · ala
13. Mombian report on Uncle Bobby's Wedding challenge · news
14. Children and Libraries article on Uncle Bobby's Wedding · journal
15. Simon & Schuster record for the 2020 Uncle Bobby's Wedding · publisher
16. Colorado Library Research Service challenged materials report · library
17. Penguin Random House record for Donovan's Big Day · publisher
18. Kirkus review of Donovan's Big Day · review
19. Open Library ISBN record for Donovan's Big Day · library
20. Second Story Press record for Mom and Mum Are Getting Married · publisher
21. Open Library ISBN record for Mom and Mum Are Getting Married · library
22. HealthyBooks annotation for Mom and Mum Are Getting Married · review
23. JCACS review discussion of Mom and Mum Are Getting Married · journal
24. Civil Marriage Act, Canada · legal
25. Lesléa Newman bibliography · creator
26. Encyclopedia.com profile of Lesléa Newman · creator
27. Open Library record for Heather Has Two Mommies · library
28. California Voter Foundation guide to Proposition 8 · legal