Who's in My Family?: All About Our Families (review)

Harris follows her engaging tot-level discussion of body parts, Who Has What? (BCCB 10/11), with a look at family diversity. Large-type prose explanation of family differences and similarities runs across each text spread ("Children are born into their families or adopted into their families. And most children live with and grow up in their families"), while the depicted preschoolers discuss their families and feelings in cartoon word balloons. The descriptive lists are a little overwhelming, and the children's dialogue is often overstated and even cloying ("Our family and friends have happy times"; "It's tons of fun when all the kids play together"), and it's Westcott's pictures that carry the day once again by simply showing the myriad configurations—gender, ethnic, age, racial variables—that families can manifest. Nonetheless, both the message and the models should help adults start a conversation about their own families and provide children warm reassurance that "children and grown-ups and their families really do love one another!"