Families, Families, Families!

By Suzanne Lang

Book Overview

No matter your size, shape, or pedigree--if you love each other, you are a family

Moms, dads, sisters, brothers -- and even Great Aunt Sue -- appear in dozens of combinations, demonstrating all kinds of nontraditional families Silly animals are cleverly depicted in framed portraits, and offer a warm celebration of family love.

From School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 1--Imagine a house with many rooms, whose walls each have a different color or wallpaper, accenting a family portrait hanging there. On a rustic wooden wall hangs the first portrait--a large family of ducks posing beside a still pond. The next spread shows three pandas in pink vests, much like the pink oriental wallpaper behind them. Each portrait features a gently rhyming line: "Some children live with their grandparents.../and some live with an aunt./Some children have many pets.../and some just have a plant." All of these appealing images demonstrate different ways of being a family. "Some children live with their father./ Some children have two mothers./Some children are adopted./Some have stepsisters and--brothers." The cartoon-style critters contrast pleasantly with more realistic elements--a bamboo plant, a slender ceramic dog, a fat ceramic cat. Families of hippos, tigers, lions, ostriches, and whales join the other family groups in the final spread. The loud-and-clear message is that "if you love each other, then you are a family." And imagine the many children who will be reassured because they have found a portrait of a family they will recognize as their own. A solid choice for most libraries.--Mary Jean Smith, formerly at Southside Elementary School, Lebanon, TN

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553499386
• ISBN13: 9780553499384
• Release Date: March 2015
• Publisher: Random House Studio
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.91 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 10.2" x 10.0"
• Age Range: 3 to 7 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 2