Books that specifically say that ‘families come in different shapes and sizes’ are hugely important.Todd Parr’s vibrant, bouncy The Family Book and the Donor Conception Network’s warm, straightforward My Story both spring to mind, and are enduring favourites in our house. My aim is to write books that introduce the idea of non-traditional family set ups in a more incidental way, that doesn’t immediately mark those families out as ‘other’, books that will be enjoyed for their story as much as the lesson it contains. The fiesty female characters are everything I want myself – and my girls – to live up to.’ Anna Whitehouse, Heart Radio DJ With main character mums who are strong, kind, and clever, this laugh-out-loud picture book (with optional sea shanties!) will help children understand that being different is what makes you special and that all families arrrrre worth telling stories about. Play a listening game where one child is blindfolded in the middle. Children can take it in turns to say 'Ahoy me hearty' in their best pirate voice. The blindfolded child then guesses who it was.

Name characters from your favourite pirate story. Children can use their knowledge of the story to ask relevant questions. The fact that this is a book about two mums may not be secondary to us as adults – to you, as teachers – but it is secondary to the children we’re reading it with. Or simply by people who have different hobbies. Little boys who don’t want to play football, despite being encouraged to. The title will be published under Mullish's married name, Jodie Lancet-Grant. Mullish is a communications director at Pan Macmillan, where she has worked on non-fiction books for Bluebird. She has over 10 years of publicity and marketing experience in the industry.

Indeed, the universality of feeling, at times, like we don’t fit in, is another reason that I’m hopeful teachers will embrace The Pirate Mums. There are many, many lessons taught at primary school. Surely one of the most important is to respect and accept those who are different, however that difference may manifest. Ahh-har me hearties, set sail for education with our great collection of pirate-themed activities. With enough parrots, eye patches and fully-hoisted anchors for your entire early years setting, this collection of pirate activities is just the thing you need to engage children with a variety of learning outcomes. Fast forward a couple of years, and my debut picture book, The Pirate Mums, is on shelves, online and – I hope – in classrooms and school libraries too. Representation matters But this is also a tale that can easily be related to by cisgender readers as well; by neurodiverse people who behave differently, for example.

A huge thank you to Jodie and all at Oxford University Press – we hope the resources will help many more primary schools celebrate diverse families.” The first, unsurprisingly perhaps, is so that children like mine, with two mums or two dads, see themselves and their lives somewhere other than in their home setting. It’s incredibly important for children to see their own lives reflected in the characters in books and we love how Ava’s dads are a key part of Ava’s story without the fact that they are an LGBTQ+ family being the central theme. These LGBTQ bedtimes stories to read right now are all glowing examples of the varied queer experiences so many of us go through. The original, full-colour illustrations and designs of our resources look great when either presented on a screen or printed to brighten up any learning environment.Support physical development with role-play activities like getting little ones to talk and move like a pirate; In so tenderly capturing Luna’s library day with Dad, Joseph Coelho bears witness to a little girl navigating parental separation, missing her father and finding closeness to him through the books they choose together. This powerful little story creates a space where the complex feelings associated with losing somebody can be gently explored and validated. Maya has lost her mum, and is missing her. We don’t know how or why she has gone, and that is part of the book’s beauty and potential– she is simply absent.

Dominic Arnall, Chief Executive of Just Like Us, added: “We’re so thrilled to be partnering with Jodie Lancet-Grant and Oxford University Press to bring much-needed representation and stories about LGBT+ families to more primary schools this School Diversity Week. Author of The Pirate Mums, Grant’s new book follows Ava and her two dads who help magical creatures with a variety of different medical troubles.

Relatable stories

This is not a book about families, per se. But it is a beautiful reflection from Jane Porter on how "family" extends beyond our blood relations, and how children have their own powerful agency in building nourishing relationships around themselves. In a world where we are increasingly aware of, and knowledgeable about, gender dysphoria in trans children, a book like this helps to put complex feelings into simple words. These stories are not only important so that children with same sex parents feel included and accepted, but also because they show children who might grow up queer, that, if they want to, they can have a family, too.

To my surprise, I found a dearth of choice. And when I spent the next few evenings moaning about this to my wife, she – in the friendliest possible way – told me to shut up and do something about it. The author commented: “I couldn’t be more delighted to be partnering with Just Like Us. Their amazing school resources will not only show children with two mums or two dads that their families are accepted in the classroom, they also show other kids that these families exist.Most obviously, this is a tale of gender identity. A blue crayon has been mistakenly labelled as red. Inside, he is blue but all outward signs point to him being red. Perfectly Norman is a fascinating story. As a transgender person who kept their true identity secret from her parents for fear of rejection, I related to this book in a big way. There isn’t yet a huge array of great resources that children will enjoy to help teachers counteract centuries of homophobia – I’m hoping that The Pirate Mums can be one of them.