Northamptonshire same sex couple write children’s book to represent their LGBTQ+ and interracial family

Stephen and Antonio with their two children, AJ and Gracie.

A same sex couple who live in Northamptonshire have penned a children’s book to represent their LGBTQ+ and interracial family.

Stephen and Antonio Hodgkinson-Soto live in Green’s Norton near Towcester, with their two adopted children; AJ, nine and Gracie, eight. The family moved to the county from America four years ago.

As parents, Stephen and Antonio have found it difficult to find a book to read to their children that represents their family as two dads and two children, one of whom is black.

The book written and created by Stephen.

So during lockdown, Stephen, who works as an operations manager, decided to put pen to paper and write ‘Stinkerton McPoo Goes Exploring’.

The book, which Stephen describes as ‘silly’, is based around the family’s Labrador, who is known around the house as ‘Stinkerton McPoo’ due to her gassiness.

Stephen, who is 46, said: “Like a lot of people, I reevaluated what is happening with life during lockdown.

“I’ve always had an idea to write a book, but just never had the time to try and make it happen, so lockdown was the time to make it happen.

“The book itself is rather silly, but it was important for us to feature our family as we struggle to find positive representation of a same sex couple in children’s books for LGBTQ+ families.”

The couple self-published the book on Amazon and it has been on sale for just over a week.

In that time, it secured a spot at number four in the children’s book sales list on the online selling site.

The book will also feature on an American website called ‘Gays with Kids’, which Antonio hopes will also boost sales.

Stephen added: “We hadn’t expected the focus to be that an LGBTQ+ family is featured, but it has raised a lot of comments and interest.

“It’s clearly really important to people so it’s important that any future books we write feature our family too.

“We really hope that by helping to spotlight LGBTQ+ families it will further people’s understanding and acceptance and maybe help other families like ours feel more comfortable.”

The book, which is aimed at children aged three to nine, can be purchased from Amazon for £6.99.

Stephen hopes to write more books in the future to continue the LGBTQ+ and interracial family representation.