Review by Booklist Review
With its vibrant illustrations and cheerful rhyming narrative describing the ups, downs, and everyday routines of 10 different families, this book will appeal to a wide audience. The message is undoubtedly one of recognizing and affirming a range of family structures, all of which provide safe, happy, loving environments for children and adults. Each two-page spread depicts an array of panels, each one featuring a different family unit located roughly in the same place on every page. This format allows readers to create their own stories as they choose one or more families to focus on from page to page. The daily events are as diverse as the families themselves, so that a day of fun can be as simple as a walk in the park or as exciting as a roller coaster ride. Troubles range from a flooded kitchen to a burnt meal or a lost pet. With a through line of togetherness, in good times and bad, this celebratory tribute will be enjoyed with every repeated reading.--Chaudhri, Amina Copyright 2017 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-This book's adequate verse sends the message that family means the people you rely on through thick and thin. "Each family is different; it may be large or small./We may look like each other-or not alike at all./No matter where we live, or our color, creed, or name-/In each and every family, the love is all the same." Each spread has a theme, such as school, play, illness, or bedtime, and shows a small scene from 10 different families' lives. Although the characters are all uniformly tall and thin, the groups are otherwise very diverse. There are families with two moms, two dads, and a single mother, as well as a transracial adoption, a child raised by grandparents, a large family with four children, and a family who could be the result of an interracial marriage or a remarriage. A variety of ethnicities are represented, and one of the children is in a wheelchair. The stylish, angular digital illustrations are where this title really shines. Readers will enjoy poring over the pictures to follow each family's individual adventures and telling their own stories about the small vignettes. VERDICT A serviceable choice for large collections and those looking to showcase family diversity.-Anna Haase Krueger, Ramsey County Library, MN © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Unconditional love is the common denominator linking the several families whose lives are explored in this picture book. Regardless of differences in appearance and composition, the families portrayed at meal times, while commuting, enjoying leisure time, and caring for one another are fundamentally more alike than not, a point that is reinforced throughout in rhyming couplets: "No matter where we live, or our color, creed, or name / In each and every family, the love is all the same." (Oddly, given the mention of "creed," the illustrations are devoid of religious signifiers, such as crucifixes, yarmulkes, or headscarves.) Although there are no multigenerational households portrayed, there are traditional nuclear families of different races, a blended family, a transracially adopted child, same-sex parents, grandparents raising a child, a single mother and child, multiracial families, and a child in a wheelchair. While the text occasionally feels labored, the bright, clear illustrations have a stylish, slightly retro feel to them and truly steal the show. Children will enjoy spotting tiny details in the pictures and following families from page to page. Aimed at young readers at a stage when they are intensely curious about other people (and highly receptive to positive messages about diversity), this British import is ideal for sparking natural conversations about differences. (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
