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Mechanics' Institute

Tarpey-Schwed LGBT Families Children's Book Special Collection

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Cover of The Trouble with Cats.

Cover image from Open Library.

Image source

The Trouble with Cats

Creator

Martha Freeman; illustrated by Cat Bowman Smith

Date

Published 2000

Format

Book

A San Francisco chapter book that anchors a sequel later discussed for its brief gay-fathers passage.

CatsStepfathersSchoolsSan FranciscoChapter booksSan Francisco settings
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Overview

The Trouble with Cats was published by Holiday House in 2000, written by Martha Freeman and illustrated by Cat Bowman Smith. Public records describe Holly adjusting to a new school, a stepfather, a small San Francisco apartment, and four troublesome cats. The collection record is careful to preserve a related reception story: the later sequel, The Trouble with Babies, includes a brief scene involving a boy with two fathers and became the subject of press coverage about censorship and sales. This record is therefore best read as a series anchor and cautionary catalog case.[2][3][4][7][1]

Series Anchor

Public catalog records identify The Trouble with Cats as Holly's first book: a child adjusts to a new school, a remarried mother, a stepfather, and cats in a San Francisco apartment. That plot is not the same evidence as the later gay-fathers passage. Its value here is as the first title in the sequence.[2][3][6]

Sequel Context

The LGBTQ-relevant evidence appears in The Trouble with Babies, published in 2002. Reviews and biographical sources describe Xavier, a neighbor who has two fathers, within a broader San Francisco neighborhood story. This distinction keeps the collection record from assigning the sequel's content to the wrong title.[4][8][6][1]

Reception Pressure

Los Angeles Times coverage reported that sales and paperback-rights concerns surrounded The Trouble with Babies after a passing reference to gay parents. The story is useful for the collection because it documents how a small scene could affect acquisition, complaint, and circulation decisions in children's publishing.[7][4][5]

Catalog Caution

This record shows why item-level accuracy matters. A collection can preserve The Trouble with Cats while also explaining that the LGBTQ significance may come through its sequel. That lets visitors search the held title and still understand the surrounding publication and censorship history.[1][2][7][6]

Timeline

  1. 2000The Trouble with CatsHoliday House published The Trouble with Cats, introducing Holly and her new family situation in San Francisco.[2][3]
  2. 2002The Trouble with BabiesHoliday House published the sequel, which reviews describe as including Xavier and his two fathers.[4][5][8]
  3. 2004Reception coverageLos Angeles Times coverage connected the sequel's sales and paperback prospects to objections over a passing gay-parent reference.[7]

Edition And Object History

The collection record identifies The Trouble with Cats. Public evidence also preserves the sequel's reception context.

2000

The Trouble with Cats

Holiday House first edition with ISBN 9780823414796.

2002

The Trouble with Babies

The sequel is the source of the gay-fathers passage described in reviews and press coverage.

Explore Connections

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

Linked records

Sequel with gay-fathers passage

The Trouble with Babies

The sequel, not clearly this title, carries the brief gay-fathers passage discussed in reviews and later press coverage.

References [4][7][8]

Censorship pressure

Daddy's Roommate

Both records belong to the collection's history of children's books shaped by adult objections to gay-parent representation.

References [7][9]

Shared themes

San Francisco

Living in Secret

A young adult novel about custody, secrecy, and a teenager's hidden life with her mother and her mother's partner in San Francisco.

San Francisco

We Do: A Celebration of Gay and Lesbian Marriage

A Chronicle Books photo-essay record of San Francisco's 2004 same-sex marriage-license moment.

Cats

Emma and Meesha My Boy

A two-mother early-reader picture book in which family structure appears inside an ordinary pet-care story.

Schools

The Popularity Papers (Book 1)

The first Popularity Papers volume, treated as the anchor member of a partial series run.

Nearby dates

Published 2000

All Families Are Different

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

Tenth-anniversary edition, 2000

Heather Has Two Mommies

A revised anniversary edition that marks Heather's movement from contested early title to commemorated landmark.

Published 2000

Holly's Secret

A Nancy Garden novel about a young person hiding her two-mother family in a new social setting.

Published 2000

Lesbian and Gay Voices

An annotated bibliography and guide to LGBTQ literature for children and young adults.

Citation

The Trouble with Cats. Martha Freeman; illustrated by Cat Bowman Smith. Holiday House, 2000. Tarpey-Schwed LGBT Families Children's Book Special Collection, Mechanics' Institute. Collection ID: KB-167.

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Sources

Cover image from Open Library.

  1. Local collection catalog record for The Trouble with Cats · catalog
  2. Free Library of Philadelphia catalog record for The Trouble with Cats · library_catalog
  3. Google Books record for The Trouble with Cats · bibliographic
  4. Kirkus Reviews review of The Trouble with Babies · review
  5. Publishers Weekly record for The Trouble with Babies · review
  6. Encyclopedia.com biographical entry for Martha Freeman · author_profile
  7. Los Angeles Times, "Trouble With Gay Characters" · news
  8. Open Library edition record for The Trouble with Babies · bibliographic
  9. Children's Books Portraying LGBT Parents checklist · bibliography