Living in California, I’ve been bombarded with “Yes on 8” ads on TV. Proposition 8 could revise the California constitution to define marriage as only being between a man and a woman. Two ads state that children will be taught about gay marriage in public school (the horror!). Both ads flashed a cover of a book. Perhaps in this context, “flashed” is not the best word to use. . . or, given the mind set of the Prop 8 folks, perhaps it is. The name of this children’s book is King and King.
I thought the agency that put together Prop 8’s commercials had made this up. Imagine my surprise! It’s a real book. It looks like it’s aimed at kids 5 to 8 years old—reviewers say that it’s marketed at third-to-fifth-graders and a little too young for them.
Our story: Prince Bertie is harangued by his mother the Queen to get married, and reluctantly agrees to do so. He falls head-over-heels in love with the brother of one of the princesses paraded past him. True love conquers all and they get married, prepared to live happily ever after. With me now: One, two, three, “Awwwww!”
In the sequel, King Bertie and King Lee go on a honeymoon and find an orphan child whom they adopt, thereby addressing that pesky problem that plagues monarchies; succession planning. The artwork is collage style. I looked at one page in the sequel and the colors really jarred me, but I’m not a kid anymore, sadly. The important life lesson I took away from this experience was that red and pink really do clash when they’re next to each other.
Whatever happens with Prop 8, I hope a side-effect is that King and King gets lots of hits on Amazon from the curious (like me) and the positive reviews result in many more sales for the two authors.