Illustrator (if separate from author): Blanca Gomez It's those touches that make the book feel even more warm and the families all the more loving.Ī great pick to celebrate the diversity in every community, this is a great pick to share aloud thanks to the clever rhyme and lovely illustrations. Her paper collage illustrations are friendly and filled with small touches that are worth lingering over. It is a joy to see the final page where all of the families are in the same neighborhood and mingling outside, one big rainbow of people together. She creates diversity with a sense of ease, rather than it being forced at all. The message is one of being loved and included no matter the size of your family or who is part of it.

The verse then goes on to show other objects and items that are that number but still a solid unit, like a bunch of bananas or a flock of birds. Each verse looks at a larger family but begins with 'One is.' and then the number of people in that family. Shannon writes a great little poem that carries this book forward at a brisk and jaunty pace. This picture book will have every child seeing themselves on the page and able to relate, which is definitely something to be celebrated! The book celebrates diversity in families as well with people of different ethnic backgrounds and gay parents. The book is a cheery mix of counting book and family size, moving from one person happily sharing her book with her cat to a very large family of ten with grandparents mixed in. Ages 4 8.A joyous look at how different families can be and how very happy people can be in small and large families. It's a quiet vision of a world in which every family is accepted. Her scenes of city life are imbued with warmth, comfort, and a kind of universality there's little obvious luxury or poverty. Gomez's figures have a pleasing, doll-like look, with round heads whose features convey friendliness. One hand of cards./ One family'), Shannon's blank verse brings home the idea of unity in multiplicity. Linking them to ways of counting groups of familiar things ('One is five./ One bunch of bananas.

One team of horses./ One family.' Gomez's (Besos for Baby) combinations of families from one to 10 present lots of possibilities grandparents and children, fathers in turbans, single-parent families, families whose members don't look alike at all. An Asian mother and child romp on hobby horses before bedtime: 'One is two./ One pair of shoes. Shannon's (Hands Say Love) message is clear: no matter how many people there are in a family, what color they are, or what ages they are, they're still a family.

One family by george shannon