Amy asks a question--Grandma, what's a lesbian?

Overview

Amy asks a question--Grandma, what's a lesbian? is a 1996 illustrated children's book by Jeanne Arnold, illustrated by Barbara Lindquist and published by Mother Courage Press in Racine, Wisconsin. The book differs from many collection items because its explanatory figure is not a parent but a grandmother. Public records and archive sources connect the title to Arnold and Lindquist's long partnership, feminist bookstore work, and small-press publishing. The local catalog describes a story dense with family history: Pride, AIDS loss, employment discrimination, a women's bookstore, a handfasting ceremony, and a child's question after playground teasing. That density makes the book valuable, but also calls for restraint. It is best treated as a solid public record rather than a flagship page until the local copy is inspected for title-page details and interior evidence.^{[2][5][7][11][1]}

A Lesbian Grandmother Frame

The most distinctive feature is the role of the grandmother. Instead of centering a child with two mothers or two fathers, the book uses intergenerational family conversation to answer a child's question about lesbian identity. National library metadata, Open Library records, and Mombian's later discussion all support the title's unusual explanatory frame. That makes the item useful for the collection's range: it shows that LGBTQ-family children's books were not limited to household structure. They could also address grandparents, family memory, aging, and how children learn identity language from older relatives.^[5][2][11]

Question And Answer Form

The title announces its form. Amy asks a direct question, and the story gives a direct, information-rich response. The local catalog describes a narrative that moves from Mother's Day visiting to school teasing and then to a conversation with Grandma Bonnie and Grandma Jo. This structure is more explicit than many picture books in the collection. It does not rely on implication or background representation. It makes lesbian identity the subject of explanation, while also insisting that a child's own identity cannot be decided by classmates' teasing.^[1][3][4]

Mother Courage Press

Mother Courage Press is central to the record. UW-Parkside documents Mother Courage Bookstore opening in 1978 and Mother Courage Press beginning in 1981, with Arnold and Lindquist at the center of that work. The press context changes how the book reads. It is not simply a self-contained children's story; it comes from a feminist and lesbian print culture that included bookstore labor, small-press production, public community space, and later archival preservation. The publisher history supplies much of the item's intellectual weight.^{[7][9][10][12]}

Elder And Family History

The local description presents the grandmothers as people with children, grandchildren, past marriages, employment loss, AIDS-related grief in the family, and a long relationship marked by ceremony. The record can treat those details as local collection evidence while relying on archive sources for Arnold and Lindquist's broader life and publishing context. The section matters because it places lesbian identity inside lived family history rather than only a definition. The UW-Parkside story gives public context for that intergenerational and autobiographical resonance without claiming that the fiction is direct autobiography.^[1][8][11]

Timeline

1. 1930Lindquist bornUW-Parkside materials give Barbara Lindquist's life context.^[8]
2. 1931Arnold bornUW-Parkside materials give Jeanne Arnold's life context.^[8]
3. 1974Partnership beginsUW-Parkside describes Arnold and Lindquist's relationship beginning in the 1970s.^[8]
4. 1978Bookstore opensMother Courage Bookstore opens in Racine.^[7]
5. 1981Press beginsMother Courage Press begins as a small feminist publishing project.^[7]
6. 1996PublicationAmy asks a question--Grandma, what's a lesbian? is published by Mother Courage Press.^[2][5]
7. 1998Lambda finalistLambda Literary Awards records place the title among 1997 finalists.^[6]
8. 2002Press retiresUW-Parkside records the retirement of Mother Courage Press.^[7]

Small-Press And Archive Trail

The public record connects the book to Mother Courage Press and later archival preservation.

Citation

Amy asks a question--Grandma, what's a lesbian?. Jeanne Arnold; illustrated by Barbara Lindquist. Mother Courage Press, 1996. Tarpey-Schwed LGBT Families Children's Book Special Collection, Mechanics' Institute. Collection ID: KB-168.

Sources

Cover image from Open Library.

1. Local collection catalog record for Amy Asks a Question. Grandma: What's a Lesbian? · catalog
2. Open Library work record for Amy Asks a Question · library
3. Open Library ISBN record for Amy Asks a Question · library
4. Internet Archive record for Amy Asks a Question · library
5. National Library of New Zealand record for Amy Asks a Question · library
6. 10th Lambda Literary Awards finalists · award
7. UW-Parkside exhibit on Mother Courage · archive
8. UW-Parkside exhibit on Jeanne Arnold and Barbara Lindquist · archive
9. ArchiveGrid record for Jeanne Arnold and Barbara Lindquist papers · archive
10. Jeanne Arnold essay on Racine County Eye · creator
11. Mombian retrospective on Amy Asks a Question · review
12. Feminist Bookstore News issue · periodical
13. WorldCat record for Amy Asks a Question · library