Families come in all shades and groupings—bio families, step families, foster families and adopted families. Who’s in My Family: All about Our Families by Robie H. Harris and illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott presents a wide array of family constellations. Most readers will be able to spot their own family reflected in the range depicted in the illustrations. The multicultural illustrations depict families as they participate in a several activities: eating, exercising, visiting the zoo, etc. While the variety of families is richly depicted, the unifying thread of the story is that families enjoy spending time together and love each other regardless of how alike or similar they look.
In a second book, We Go Together by Todd Dunn and illustrated by Miki Sakamoto also tackle the concept of “fitting together.” Using familiar pairings like socks and shoes, ice cream and cones and elephants and trunks Dunn’s book reinforces the idea that some things go together naturally. He ends the story on a relationship note: “We go together because you love me and I love you.”
What makes this pair of books a good complement for each other is the emphasis on relationship connection. In both books, regardless of any physical similarities (or dissimilarities,) what counts is how people feel about one another. We care about those we love and that affection weaves our relationship together.
I rate both books four stars.
