The Family Book | Todd Parr

The Family Book | Todd Parr | Courtesy of Kids @ Teens Read Too

books:

The Family Book

	The Family Book Todd Parr Little, Brown Young Readers, 2003 - 32 pages average customer review:based on 41 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Excellent Book!

I am the single mom of a 2 1/2 year old daughter who is adopted. I was looking for books to start the conversation about being adopted and found The Family Book. It does an excellent job of describing how families are different and more importantly how they are the same. I plan to use this book as the starting point for an ongoing conversation about being adopted and having one parent. I also plan on checking out more of Todd Parr's books.

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I absolutely love Todd Parr's work, both in his books and his videos. No matter what subject he's writing about, or speaking about, behind it all is the universal theme of diversity and acceptance.

With THE FAMILY BOOK, children and parents learn that families come in all shapes and sizes. Some families are large, some small. Some all look the same, some look different. Some families have children who are adopted, while some families even have two moms or two dads. Regardless of how your family is made up, all families share some of the same things: they like to hug, they like to celebrate together, and sometimes they're even sad together.

What a great way to teach tolerance! The bright, bold illustrations and easy-to-read pages are perfect for both beginning readers and older children, and the story is even better when read aloud with a parent -- or two!

This is another keeper for your collection!

Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"

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Lovely.

I truly enjoyed reading this book with my niece. She comes from a multi-ethnic background and is being raised in a single parent home with the help of her grandparents and myself. She has often wondered why she is different from other children and I have long wanted a book to help her realize that there is no regular families. What I truly enjoyed about this book was the fact that the families in the book included animals and humans making it easier to grasp. And the ending where it emphasized that it was love, and not similarity, that made a family, I about cried. Oh, and she LOVES it too! : )

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We LOVE it!

This is a family favorite at our house! The pictures are bright, the text easy to read and it holds my kids' attention. As an added bonus, it acknowledges families formed by adoption (like ours) and shows all different types of families, focusing on the fact that families don't have to be "traditional" to still be a family.

Love the diversity of families!

Reviewed by Olivia Alejandre (age 4) for Reader Views (12/07)

Mom's review / summary:
There are so many great things about this book; I will start with the artwork because of how appealing it is to a toddler. Many children's books try to get too elaborate with the artwork, but some children (mine included) don't pay attention as closely to books with that much detail. This artwork has bold colors but simple and clear depictions of the people or animals. Since they can't read yet, they really need the pictures to help tell the story and these certainly do.

Now, for the message and ideas presented in the book - how wonderful that Todd Parr is presenting different types of families and that they are all special. And, he didn't just talk about the differences; he also encouraged positive family behaviors - hugging, supporting each other, and celebrating special days.

"The Family Book" would be a great book for a daycare or preschool setting because of the message in it - teachers could use it as a starting point to talk about each child's family and the differences from one family to the next. I'm not sure, however, that this is the kind of book that Olivia is going to want to read over and over because she likes stories with characters, plots, and activities.

Olivia's review / summary:
"There's a lot of bunnies in that family. Some families are different colors - white or brown or white-brown. This is a house. And then, there's a world. Families can have a brother and sister, or no babies. Families are alike and different."

Some quotes from Olivia about the book:
"Look at all those people on there! People don't live in trees - only birdies."

"That's a lot of bunnies!"

"I will make the fish happy. If I'm in the book, I will be a fish and be its mommy. And, daddy and you can go in the book and you can be a fishie."

"Looks - bears hugging!"

[Mom]: "What kind of family do you have?" "A people family." [Mom]: "Are we the same color in our family?" "No." [Mom]: "What color is daddy?" "Brown." [Mom]: "What color is mommy?" "White." [Mom]: "What color is Olivia?" "Brown and white."

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