Love is Love

Age range 5 to 9

The worldwide adventure continues as Fleur and Julian celebrate marriage in 15 more countries that allow same-sex unions, completing the journey they started in Love Around the World (2020 Rainbow Book List).

Fleur Pierets and Julian P. Boom are two women in love. They live together, eat together, sleep together, and work together. When Fleur asks Julian to marry her, Julian says "Yes!" But in most countries, a man cannot marry a man and a woman cannot marry a woman. There are 195 countries in the world, but they can only get married in 28 of them. They think this is unfair! So they decide to get married in all 28 countries that allow same-sex marriage.

Inspired by a true story, Love Around the World, was the first in this two-volume children's book series about Julian and Fleur's adventures. In Love Is Love: The Journey Continues, they pick up where they left off, exploring the marriage traditions of fourteen countries: Argentina, Austria, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Germany, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.

“PRAISE FOR LOVE AROUND THE WORLD A real-life LGBTQ love story inspired this picture book. When Fleur and Julian fall in love and decide to get married, they discover that because they are both women, this is possible in only 28 of the world's 195 countries. They decide to travel around the world to celebrate their nuptials in each of these nations, starting with Julian's native Netherlands. Each subsequent spread depicts the women in different countries that sanction and affirm their union: the U.S., Brazil, Australia, France, Belgium, Ireland, Portugal, Canada, Spain, Iceland, Finland, and Mexico. Each spread shows Fleur and Julian joyfully celebrating in festive settings, often with other couples around them. The art has a graphic, flat quality that makes the most of the rainbow palette in scenes that could translate to postcard or poster images, and the text highlighting fairness, safety, and pride helps make the adult institution of marriage accessible to young readers. While the concluding scene leaves readers on a hopeful note, with the happy couple determined to travel to the other 15 countries, the backmatter shows a photograph of the real couple and reveals that Julian died of brain cancer shortly after they began their wedding tour around the world. This book realizes their dream. Moving and inspiring. (Picture book. 4-8)”

PRAISE FOR Love Around the World:“This is a really uplifting book . . . it’s a children’s book but it is also a work of activism. . . . One of the striking things about this book is the illustrations by artist Fatinha Ramos. [Fleur and Fatinha] depict the cultures of these different places so vividly, in writing and in pictures.” —Marco Werman, PRI’s The World"A real-life LGBTQ love story inspired this picture book. When Fleur and Julian fall in love and decide to get married, they discover that because they are both women, this is possible in only 28 of the world's 195 countries. They decide to travel around the world to celebrate their nuptials in each of these nations, starting with Julian's native Netherlands. Each subsequent spread depicts the women in different countries that sanction and affirm their union: the U.S., Brazil, Australia, France, Belgium, Ireland, Portugal, Canada, Spain, Iceland, Finland, and Mexico. Each spread shows Fleur and Julian joyfully celebrating in festive settings, often with other couples around them. The art has a graphic, flat quality that makes the most of the rainbow palette in scenes that could translate to postcard or poster images, and the text highlighting fairness, safety, and pride helps make the adult institution of marriage accessible to young readers....Moving and inspiring. " —Kirkus Reviews
PRAISE FOR 22 The Project:"Stunning . . . a compelling performance piece that will take [Pierets and Boom] around the world on behalf of LGBTQ rights." – Huffington Post"It’s not quite a honeymoon, but it’s still got all the love and excitement of one! . . . [a] journey that will not only positively impact their own marriage, but hopefully those of couples around the world as well." – The Knot

Fleur Pierets is an artist, writer, and speaker who focuses on gay identity and positive activism. She is the author of the 2019 book Julian, which was a best-seller in the Netherlands and in her native Belgium, and Love Around the World, the first of a two-volume children's book series on marriage equality around the world. Together with her late wife, Julian P. Boom, she founded Et Alors? magazine. It features conversations with queer musicians, visual artists, writers and performers by whom they are inspired, capturing a world striving for change and awareness of gay imagery and female representation in art history. In 2017, Fleur and Julian started 22–The Project, a performance art piece in which the couple would marry in every country that legalized same-sex marriage. There were 22 countries when they launched the project in 2017; since then, the number of countries has grown to 27.After wedding #4, in France, Julian was diagnosed with brain cancer. She died shortly thereafter. With this book series, Fleur is seeing their project through to the end. Fleur Pierets lives in Antwerp, Belgium. Fatinha Ramos is an award-winning Antwerp-based illustrator and visual artist originally from Portugal. Her eleven illustrated children’s books have been internationally recognized, earning awards from the Society of Illustrators in New York, 3x3, Communication Arts, Global Illustration Award, Creative Quarterly, and White Ravens. Her books include Sonia Delaunay: A Life of Color (Museum of Modern, Art, New York), Brown Girl Magic (Davidsfonds/Infodok), and Love Around the World.

Age range 5 to 9 The worldwide adventure continues as Fleur and Julian celebrate marriage in 15 more countries that allow same-sex unions, completing the journey they started in Love Around the World (2020 Rainbow Book List). Fleur Pierets and Julian P. Boom are two women in love. They live together, eat together, sleep together, and work together. When Fleur asks Julian to marry her, Julian says "Yes!" But in most countries, a man cannot marry a man and a woman cannot marry a woman. There are 195 countries in the world, but they can only get married in 28 of them. They think this is unfair! So they decide to get married in all 28 countries that allow same-sex marriage. Inspired by a true story, Love Around the World , was the first in this two-volume children's book series about Julian and Fleur's adventures. In Love Is Love: The Journey Continues , they pick up where they left off, exploring the marriage traditions of fourteen countries: Argentina, Austria, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Germany, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.

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