The Family Book

My 21 month old loves this book. We translate it for her since she speaks Spanish and Italian at home and English at daycare. Wording is simple and easy to translate, but more importantly it is very inclusive. If you do not want your children to grow up perceiving as normal families with two moms or two dads, this is not the book for you. This book has a very good and simple way to include and explain different types of families.

This book is wonderful, and I highly recommend it. It's wonderful to have a book about families that I am comfortable reading to my son, who came into our family through adoption. So many books make assumptions about "normal" families, and this one does a fantastic job of including all families without any expectation of being "normal." This book helps to give my son a framework for understanding the world in which he lives. He will encounter friends whose families are in each of these situations. The colors are striking and fun, and my son loves to look at the pictures. I see many reviews that have trouble with the mention of same-sex parents. Evidently these parents haven't stepped outside and opened their eyes to the world around them, and would prefer to pull blinders over their children's eyes, as well. Clearly, this is a reality in the world, whether you choose to read your children a book that acknowledges it or not. If your children attend school, or leave your home, they will encounter families with two moms or two dads. No matter how hard you try to "protect" them from this reality, they will soon discover it - you may as well read this book and process this with them. (I, too, am a "religious fanatic," as one other reviewer mentioned, which is why I am a pastor of a congregation that is fully welcoming to all, and welcomes LGBTQ-identifying folks without any expectation of change. Gender and biology are never sinful. Being a part of a loving family is never sinful.) Also - no. This book does not require you to have the "birds and the bees" conversation with your kids just because it mentions same-sex parents; if your child doesn't understand how sexual intercourse between opposite gender parents works, they will not be concerned about the biology of same-sex parents birthing a child. That question simply isn't on their radar. Tell them the truth - that sometimes families are made of two moms or two dads. It's a fact. I would suspect you should have even more difficulty explaining spontaneous reproduction by a single parent? As a parent who has a child through adoption - please DO normalize families who have children without having given birth to their child. Acknowledging the world as it is is NOT an agenda. It is reality. To have not included all types of families into this book would have been a major disservice to Parr's tiny readers and their families. Kudos to you, Todd Parr.

As always, such great writing and inclusivity. What else needs to be said. Will leave you speechless and tearful in a good way.

This is a perfect book to start reading to a very young child about different family types. Illustrations are bright and colorful with families represented in purple, yellow, orange, green, blue...and using people as well as animals, like ducks, pigs, dogs, cats, and goldfish. Minimal words with straight forward meanings, e.g., "Some families have one parent instead of two". Some of the illustrations have glasses, some are bald, some have straight hair, some have curly hair...it is a fantastic book. And the message at the end rocks: "There are lots of different ways to be a family. Your family is special no matter what kind it is." And it includes all family types - big, small, interracial, adoption, single parent, same sex parents, etc. Age group is young, 1 to 5 I would say. Perfect for me and my daughter - thanks author Todd!

The Family Book by Todd Parr celebrates all kinds of families in bright, bold colors. It’s simple enough for young readers but full of heart. A great way to promote acceptance.

My 5 month old loves the bright pictures and stays engrossed through the whole book (it's short but not too short). I love the way the message is presented. A great early introduction to different types of families... indeed, families comes in all sizes, shapes, types and colors. It's a great book to introduce concepts of variety and diversity and how there are all kinds of families, without being PC. The perfect picture book for any and every family!

My 3.5 year old daughter started questioning why her dad and I don’t live in the same house like her best friend’s parents. So I got this book to help her understand that families come in all shapes. I found that it’s missing saying that some families have two parents who live in different houses. So I crossed one of the pages that says some families have one parent instead of two (which I do not like the sentence anyways - it makes it sound like one parent is less than two parents). It’s a ggood great book and my daughter spent days wanting to read it and asking to read it again 2-3 times. Recommend.

We purchased this book for my son's reading list at school, it was one of the few books I could find on families. I really really like this book- I think it shows kids how families don't have to look alike to love each other, some families have two mommies or two daddies, or just one parent and every couple of pages there's a two page spread about something that ALL families do- like love each other, miss someone when they've passed away. I think this is a great book and could be very useful if a child is having questions about differences among families of their friends or classmates- you can be as general or as specific as you want. For instance, one of the pages shows a family of different colored fish and says that some families have different colored skin (interracial and intercultural families) and if you, as a parent, wanted to elaborate on that you could, or like we did, when our son didn't stop us with questions, we just read through the whole book.

There is a page that says some families has two moms or two dads. It's up to you to decide if you want to get it.

This book was read at playgroup, and I ordered it on the spot. Fantastic at illustrating differences and similarities in families at a level my 2yo loves. The bold pictures and bright colours are captivating. This two mum family approves!

Todos los niños necesitan este libro!!

A smart way to show kids that families comes in all shapes and sizes and can be different from the classic nucleus family set up

The Family Book by Todd Parr is excellent. I bought it for my 4-year old twins who have been asking about different families, to explain the concept of family and the various families they will encounter. This book is very simple, in a great way: I had read other books which had complicated concepts, too many pictures and were ultimately confusing. This book, on the other hand, shows a celebration all of kinds of families, showing how each is special in their own way. It helps as a basic way to kick off discussions with kids about families and the various types of families which exist, showing all are special, no matter the style, race, color, sexual orientation, etc. I would highly recommend this book to all parents.