(So did the name of a town en route to the country: Peckerwood.) And if you stopped to think about it, “Lucy” seemed to argue that the gay dads, however full of fun, were inadequate: When the pita chips were down, they needed rescuing, too. “The Hunky Fireman” would be a fine title for a very different kind of picture book, but his presence in this one made me wonder about the intended readership. But the plot rang no bells for us as it built to its crisis: When the “big guys” give a party for colorful friends at their weekend house, a beehive ends up in the baba ghanouj, Lucy winds up in a tree and a hunky fireman comes to the rescue. The book, then just published, was evidently meant to help normalize already boringly normal families like ours by using the traditional substitution of animals for people in order to illustrate how much fun having gay dads can be. IN 1998, WHEN my sons were still too young to read by themselves, my partner and I gave them a picture book called “ Lucy Goes to the Country.” It’s about a cat who lives with two gay men you can tell by the tchotchkes. Updated, 4/1/20: We’re revisiting this feature, originally published last year, following the death of Tomie dePaola, the author and illustrator of “Strega Nona,” on Monday at 85.
