THE BEST MUMMY SNAILS IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD
TROY JENKINSON, TEACHER
“I fell into writing by accident. When I started as a teacher at my new school, I was informed by a governor that a pupil had been picked on for having two mums. At the same time, I found some children were still using the word ‘gay’ as an insult. Attitudes have changed since I was at school myself, and for the better, but I think we are still working in the shadows of Section 28.
It was then that I decided to do something about it. Having searched for a book with two animals playing the part of mums in a same-sex relationship – as the kids love books about animals – I found there was nothing out there. And so, I went away and wrote The Best Mummy Snails In The Whole Wide World for one of my teachers to share in an assembly – and she loved it. She was the one to suggest I try and get it published, and so the journey began!
When I shared my book in one assembly, I asked the children to think about the moral of the story. A year six boy put his hand up and said, ‘It’s easy to explain the moral of the story. Love is love. It doesn’t matter if you have two parents of the same sex, or parents of different sexes, they still give you love’. I thought this was very profound.