Antonio's Card/ La Tarjeta de Antonio by Rigoberto Gonzalez

Gonzalez, Rigoberto. 2005. Antonio's Card/ La Tarjeta de Antonio. Illus. by Cecilia Concepcion Alvarez. San Francisco: Children's Book Press. ISBN 0892392045.

Summary
Every day Leslie picks Antonio up from school. Leslie is his mother's partner. Leslie is a painter and very tall, with short hair. When other children at school make fun of Leslie for being tall and paint splattered, Antonio is not sure how to respond. For mother's day, Antonio makes a card for his mother and Leslie. When he discovers the cards are going to be put on display, it makes Antonio worry about what the other kids will say.

Analysis
This book is very well done. Antonio's embarrassment when the other kids make fun of Leslie is totally believable. When he is making the card for his mother and Leslie at school, he does so with love and affection which reflects the love his mother and Leslie have for him. When Leslie picks him up from school they read together and Antonio sits in Leslie's lap. Even though his family is not traditional, Antonio is well cared for. I especially like the part when Antonio confides in his mother that the other children made fun of Leslie. His mother asks him, "And how does Leslie dress, Antonio? And how does Leslie walk? Antonio thinks about it carefully. "Like Leslie, I guess (Gonzalez 2005. p. 17)." His mother doesn't try to brush aside his feelings. When he tells his mother that he is nervous about explaining who Leslie is to the other children, Antonio's mother tells him that he is old enough to decide what he wants to say. When Antonio visits Leslie's studio and she shows him the picture of the three of them she painted for a mother's day gift, Antonio understands that he is lucky to have a family that loves him. There is no political agenda in this book.

The illustration in this book are very good. The characters are portrayed realistically and non-stereotypically. Leslie has short hair, wears overalls and appears slightly masculine, but not overly so. Antonio's mother looks more feminine but both women look like everyone else. The artist does an excellent job of presenting the characters in a non-judgmental way. I recommend this book because it really shows that even though not all families are alike, they are still valuable.

This is a bilingual book, written in English and Spanish. Antonio's Card was a finalist for a Lambda Award in 2005.

Connections
This book could be used to learn about different kinds of families.
This book could be used by a counselor to teach acceptance.
This book could be part of a mother's day display or a mother's day celebration.

Review Excerpts
According to Kirkus Reviews, "As he begins to be ashamed of Leslie, he learns anew that all people and families are different, but united by love, when Leslie shows him the painting she has created for Mother's Day: the three of them picnicking and reading under a tree. While homosexual partners are the subtext of the story, the focus is not sexuality but individual difference."

School Library Journal says, "Still, even the negative peer pressure cannot keep him from drawing a lovely card for Mother's Day, a card for both of his mothers. When his teacher announces that the cards will be displayed in the lunchroom, the child becomes afraid all over again. It takes sharing a love of art and of family with Leslie for Antonio to feel ready to claim his family publicly."

Works Cited
2005. "Antonio's Card: La Tarjeta de Antonio." Kirkus Reviews 73, no. 6: 352-352. Academic Search Complete database. Last accessed August 6, 2009.

Gonzalez, Rigoberto. 2005. Antonio's Card/ La Tarjeta de Antonio. Illus. by Cecilia Concepcion Alvarez. San Francisco: Children's Book Press.

Welton, Ann, Trevelyn E. Jones, Luann Toth, Marlene Charnizon, Daryl Grabarek, and Dale Raben. 2005. "Antonio's Card/La tarjeta de Antonio." School Library Journal 51, no. 5: 118-118. Academic Search Complete database. Last accessed August 6, 2009.