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Pride: ‘Diverse books are important all year around’

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Pride: ‘Diverse books are important all year around’

If you ask seven year old sisters Alexa and Delilah what's special about their family they'll have two answers - they're twins and they have two mums!

When they were little, their mum, Jodie Lancet-Grant, couldn't find many books which had two mums or two dads in them so she decided to write her own.

Alexa and Delilah talked to Jodie for Newsround to find out more about why she started writing books and why diversity in books is so important.

The first question Alexa and Delilah want to know is where Jodie gets her ideas from and it turns out they have a big part to play!

Image source, Oxford University Press
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Jodie's books are inspired by her daughters

Jodie wrote her first book The Pirate Mums about two mums who are pirates because she knew the twins liked pirate stories and adventures.

Her second book The Marvellous Doctors for Magical Creatures was inspired by Alexa and Delilah's love of unicorns.

But as well as all the things that the twins likes Jodie also looked at all the things that were missing from other books.

"What wasn't there was very many stories with families that looked like ours, with two mummies or two daddies," she tells Alexa and Delilah.

In The Pirate Mums, Jodie says the main character Billy wishes his family is like other people's, but by the end he has learnt to appreciate his family.

The twins agree there's a message in Jodie's books.

"You don't have to fit in, you're perfect just the way you are and you can be different in any way you want to be," Alexa says.

Image source, Jodie Lancet-Grant
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Diverse books are important all year round, not just at Pride says Jodie

June is Pride Month so the twins also ask Jodie about why her book are important at Pride.

"[Pride] is the time of the year when we think about how people live their lives differently, and all the different ways you can make up a family and all the different way you can be in love," says Jodie.

LGBT stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender. Sometimes a Q is added which stands for queer and a + , which is an inclusive symbol to mean 'and others' to include people of all identities.

But like other books which celebrate LGBT communities, Jodie's books are for all year round, not just during Pride Month

"It's really nice to get some extra attention at Pride," says Jodie.

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Newsround Press Pack: What is it and how do I take part?