''The Sissy Duckling'' is a

children's A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The images ...

written by actor

Harvey Fierstein Harvey Forbes Fierstein ( ; born June 6, 1952) is an American actor, playwright and screenwriter. He is best known for his theater work in ''Torch Song Trilogy'' and ''Hairspray'' and movie roles in ''Mrs. Doubtfire'', '' Independence Day'', and ...

and illustrated by

Henry Cole Sir Henry Cole FRSA (15 July 1808 – 18 April 1882) was a British civil servant and inventor who facilitated many innovations in commerce and education in the 19th century in the United Kingdom. Cole is credited with devising the concept of ...

. It is 40 pages long and intended for children ages 5–8. It follows the story of Elmer, a duckling who is mocked for being a "sissy" but who ultimately proves his bravery. It is based off of an

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

children's special aired three years before the book was released, written by and starring Fierstein as the voice of Elmer the Duckling. The special was nominated for the

GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Individual Episode The GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Individual Episode is one of the annual GLAAD Media Awards which is offered to the best LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the in ...

. Due to the LGBTQ+ themes in this book, it has garnered negative reception and it has been challenged by Montgomery County, Texas Memorial Library System.

Creation

Fierstein was inspired to write the story of ''The Sissy Duckling'' after being asked to write an episode for the HBO series '' Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child''. They asked him to make a Jewish version of a classic Western fairy-tale, but Fierstein thought that a fairy-tale modified to center a gay character was more needed at the time. ''The Sissy Duckling'', however as not made into an episode of ''Happily Ever After'', but instead an entirely separate TV special aired on HBO in 1999. Fierstein was then contacted by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

to turn his original script into a children’s picture book.

References

External links

Interview with the author
2002 children's books American picture books Children's_books_with_LGBT_themes Fictional ducks {{Child-book-stub