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Mini Mia and Her Darling Uncle
by Pija Lindebaum
R&S Books

Only a Swede could come up with a book about a gay uncle that feels so, well, American.  He lives in a hip city that is obviously New York or San Fran or San Diego or, well, Miami, except that's where Mini Mia's M&D are off vacationing while various relatives babysit.

Uncle Tommy's her favorite, and no wonder. Lindenbaum draws the other three uncles and even grandma in the dullest beiges and grays, while Tommy leaps off the page with his multiple earrings, goatee and funky wardrobe. He dyes her hair a different color every day, takes her people-watching at cafes or to sad movies.

Of course she adores him, spending every parent-free moment with him, until boring, badly dressed Fergus shows up. He's obviously Uncle Tommy's new partner, though it's never stated. As an adult, I can appreciate what a momentous decision it is for Tommy to introduce his favorite niece to his beloved, but guess who has hissy fits, pouts, sulks, and generally makes everyone miserable? Thankfully, not Tommy or Fergus, or I'd have taken points for stereotyping.

Lindenbaum keeps a careful reign on Tommy's swishiness and what emerges is a grown-up/child relationship with a unique cast. I haven't googled it, but I'm pretty sure there aren't any other picture books about gay uncles. And yet if you substituted, say, a divorced Dad and his new girlfriend, it'd feel about the same, but without breaking such new and important ground in showing kids that grown-ups fall in love on their own terms.

What makes this book so American, despite its European origins (this is a translation) is the general blue-state sensibility toward gay men, that there's something inherently more fun about them, that their sexuality is a happy fact and in no way threatening, and no apology's needed for loud pants or disarming affectations.

Someday, inevitably, this sentiment will spread to red states, or at least to the more urbane parts. All the adoring Mini Mia's out there will make it so.

Rating: *\*\*\