The Great Big Book of Families

Written by; Mary Hoffman

Illustrated by: Ros Asquith 

Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2010

This book offers a sound contribution to promoting representations of diversity in children's literature, particularly around the topic of families. The Great Big Book of Families depicts, for example, how different families live, what they wear, the pets they have, how they educate their children, the festivals they celebrate, and the holidays they take (including staying at home, which sums up nicely how very inclusive representations in this book are). It's an empathetic book, with the author, Mary Hoffman, clearly being keen not to make assumptions about life in families in contemporary Britian. I like the fact that the book doesn't try to make the saccharine conclusion of 'we're all different, but deep down all the same', like many of its contemporary titles. this book is out and proud in celebrating difference.     

                                             

The pen and watercolour cartoon-like illustrations (reminiscent of those by Laurence Anholt) offer depictions of people across a variety of  ages, ethnicity, abilities, having different religious affiliations, and being both many and few in number (those with lots of siblings, and extended family members, those being so called 'only children'). For our 'blended family' (I'm borrowing this term to describe our part birth and part adopted children loveliness!), this book is useful, helping us frame a dialogue with our kids about what we look like, how we're composed as a family. The book includes a representations of families with two mums, two dads, adoptive and foster families. There are also lots of representations throughout the book of interracial families / multi ethnic families, so again, The Great Big Book of Families could be incredibly helpful in opening many dialogues. 

The book hasn't had the greatest reception with my children though. It seems its useful, but overwhelming. The illustrations and layout of the pages are 'busy'; as with the page above, some nice depictions of 4-3 person families are distracted by additional stick-men border pictures. There's too much to see and too many ideas. Five pages in, my daughter, who will sit through very long children's books normally, get quite bored and frustrated with this book. Ironically, given it celebrates difference, she finds the catalogue/ categorising style narrative a little 'samey' saying latterly, 'it just about a lot of people all doing the same thing -standing about together.'  On other pages there's a lot of 'items' or themed artifices in the boarder, and again I think she finds this 'clutter of the page' a little over stimulating. 

A very positive aspect of the book are the many emotions the book explores, not only in the facial expressions of the pictures, but more explicitly in the last few pages of the book there's a nod to family members feeling differently from each other, disagreeing and even fighting, which again, might be very helpful to explore with little ones.
The gimmicky 'spot the cat' picture request on the book title page is again, distracting, and I think the opening page, which attempts to show children how representations of families have changed, goes beyond the point, and feels a bit self congratulating (in that the book attempts to redress this). On an aesthetic level, the type-font looks a bit cheap and spiky, and there are quantitatively  a lot of pictures in the book that include written labels within the illustration (see the family tree page for example). At first I thought the book might therefore me better aimed at my seven year old able reader, who could get more out of the pictures, but he complains that in this book, 'there really is no story.' I have seen non-fiction -fiction hybrids on blended families, captivate much better: Eddie's Tent and How to Go Camping by Sarah Garland for example, and a non fiction such as Kids by Catherine and Laurence Anholt, captivate on the basis of using rhyme. this book is on the whole then, a bit busy in look and a bit bland in address (ironic really?!), but as said above, does make a very welcome and timely response to representing contemporary family life in the UK.   

Eddie's Tent and How to go Camping

Author and Illustrator: Sarah Garland
Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2015

It's my unwritten rule on this blog to only feature books that have been on our bookshelf for a good three months (minimum), as I want to feature books that have proven longevity with young children. Eddie's Tent and How to go Camping is a library book we've borrowed for three weeks...I'm breaking with the rule here as Bert (5) has requested I read this book to him everyday this week, and so I'm keen to buy the other three titles in the Eddie series. 

Eddie's Tent is a fabulous mix of fiction and non-fiction which is proving very satisfying to Bert's early reader sensibilities. The book feels like the perfect read for 4-6year olds, as this seems to be the age children gain an interest in learning and sometimes reciting fact, with 'understanding the world around them' a feature of the early years British curriculum. The furore of camping also seems like an ideal reach to this age group, and has proved mightly appealing to Bert. This title offers both narrative about a family preparing and then embarking on a camping trip, and practical tips and skills needed for a successful camping trip. There's plenty of camping specific vocabulary such as 'pot hook', 'billy' and 'damper bread', placed in appropriate narrative context so offering implicit learning. I also like that the author pays heed to all the senses, adjectives related to and descriptions of sights, sounds, tastes, smells and the feeling of camping: 'When it was crisp and golden, they ate it with butter. Even the burnt bits tasted good', for example. 

The book is laid out in a way that maximises interest, with each short written piece accompanied by a small picture alongside. The simple pencil and colour illustrations have a child-like quality, they're not overworked or perfected, but resemble what an older child might achieve, so feel obtainable, 'copyable' to young enthusiastic hands (Bert has produced some great tent pictures himself this week, feeling inspired). Camping is itself a very aspirational activity for young children, so again, a great topic. 

We'd also read this book a couple of times before realising it refreshingly represents a blended family (or at least a non-nuclear family).  The parent characters in the book are 'Mum and Tom' and the two younger siblings, 'Lily and Tily' have similar names but different hair colour and skin tone. Later in the story Eddie makes a new friend, Max, who is spending the day with his grandad. The story is very idealistic, both families happy and gathered round the camp fire singing; togetherness and teamwork are welcome themes in this house though, given we're in a big blended family ourselves. 

The story goes off on lots of wispy tangents, which again really gripped Bert's interest. These tangents present family life as fun, so for example everyone practising handstands, sharing fish and chips from the van, and drinking  hot chocolate in the tent. There's also lots of suggests of activities to follow up the reading ( all implied), so for example, reading a compass, making dens indoors, and Eddie even sits down to draw a map of his journey at one interval. There's also a moment of suspense and high drama in the book as new friends Max and Eddie loose Max's puppy and chase him through woods, getting lost. Their newfound adventuring skills lead them to safety. As a really nice outro, the book includes 'some tips for camping' as an index (even though these tips are offered in short interwoven throughout the book too). 

In all, Eddie's Tent would make a brilliant addition to any early years or key stage 1 classroom. It's informative and imaginative, descriptive and explanatory at the same time. I just hope we can return our loan to the library without too much fuss, before our bought copy arrives.  

If you like this, you may also like (this other non-fiction): The Story of The Titanic (for children)

KIDS

Written and Illustrated by: Catherine and Laurence Anholt
Publisher: Walker Books, Ltd, 1992

I feel truly privileged to own a copy of this book. I enjoy reading KIDS hugely, and laugh at the same parts every time (like meeting up with an old friend). The little quips in the book ('here's a kid who hid in some coal' - cue coal dusted child), feel fresh and fun, and despite being written in the 1990s, would be approved as 'PC' even today (I suppose the 'nasty' kids and 'nice' kids might get a bit of a redress in today's classrooms, but my children find these two pages of the book particularly amusing). Generally though being so in line with today's politically correct is incredible really, given that KIDS is about difference and similarity, the sort of topic where what's acceptable and how it's discussed changes rapidly and progressively (on the most part). 

Most importantly with this book, the authors were celebrating and putting diversity on the British children's literature map long before others (with the exception of Janet and Alan Ahlberg possibly, so for example, 'The Baby Catalogue'(1984)), and certainly before this became a part of a wider cultural and political 'agenda'. The differences between kids, as charted in this book, don't feel tenuous or contrived, but natural and not overplayed as those very differences are what kids have in common (nice!)


The book is structured as such, where on each page humourous observations based around a question are made, so for example, 'What do kids look like?' and then there is a reply, in this example 'freckles and badges and ink on their skirts, glasses and smiles and hanging-out shirts.' The Anholt writing and illustrating duo paint this lovely, rich anthology of childhood, showing how gaps in teeth, cuts on knees, getting in a muddle, hiding, stashing items in pockets, having fears, are universal. Alongside the Anholt's signature illustrations (ink and watercolour, detail on clothes, accessories, espousing diversity) the message created is, while kids might all look different there's plenty they do that's the same. 

KIDS is written in iambic tetrameter, so it sounds 'chugging', charging almost. I love that at the end of the book, parent characters are introduced, and they are portrayed as equally diverse, and in a hurry, and busy. On the last page of the book the rhyming verse starts with the letters to spell 'KIDS' in the vertical, and calms the charge right down with 'Kiss us when, It's nearly night: Dads and mums, Switch off the light.' Great memorable way to end and children's book and nice closure for bedtime.

In terms of age range, this book easily spans from 2-7years, and seems more appropriate as my children get older in fact. Alf (7) is all about 'adjective' collecting at school at the moment (this book is plentiful), and he's really starting to explore the concept of difference and similarity against himself - I imagine this is very age appropriate in terms of emotional development. KIDS is a great book for vocabulary building in general though, with the 'verb page' a favourite of mine (eg. 'What do kids do? mix, mess, muddle, comfort, kiss, cuddle'). (Shirley Hughes has a similar technique in her books 'Giving', 'Sharing' etc, as do The Ahlbergs in Baby Catalogue).

All in all, a fantastically educational book, ripe for using in the classroom to support all sorts of grammar exercises, perfect for sharing at home to promote discussion about 'who we are' (see also,If I Could Be),  and a book I like to reach for anytime of the day (like a guaranteed 'pick-me-up') (but preferably with a cup of coffee in hand).   

If you like this book about childhood, you might also like this: Peepo

Handa's Suprise

Author and Illustrator: Eileen Browne

Publisher: Walker Books, 1994

This is a sweet, very simple story, set in south-west Kenya. It features a little girl called Handa (as the postscript notes, from the Luo tribe in Kenya). Handa goes off to see her friend Akeyo, packing seven types of fruit into a basket as a surprise for her friend. Handa walks purposefully to Akeyo's village, the fruit in the basket balanced on her head. As she walks she thinks about which fruit her friend might choose to eat first. Unbeknown to Handa, a monkey slips down from a near tree and takes the banana from her basket. Handa wonders whether Akeyo would like the 'sweet-smelling guava', just as an ostrich sweeps in to take the guava. A zebra takes the 'round juicy orange', an elephant the 'ripe red mango', a giraffe the 'spiky-leaved pineapple', an antelope the 'creamy green avocado' and a parrot the 'tangy purple passion fruit.'  As Handa approaches Akeyo's village a goat breaks free from its rope, bangs into a tree and tangerines from the tree fall into the basket. Handa announces to Akeyo on meeting that she brings a surprise, but the story ends with Handa being the one who is surprised.     

The illustrations in the book are rich and bright, using many yellows, oranges and browns, especially in the tall grasses, offering a feel of the African landscape. As a snapshot into another culture (we're based in the UK), Eileen Browne has painted an everyday image of two girls from these villages in Kenya going about a simple task, and as such the book celebrates the girls' way of life rather objectifies it as mystifying or exotic. Saying that the traditional clothes and braided hair, the carrying of the head basket, the proximity of the Kenyan animals and the traditional names of the characters all bring insight and enrich the representations of Kenyan life here. I also like though, that some of the fruits featured in the story are 'everyday' for young children in the UK, some might be more unusual. Both difference and similarities (to children in the UK) have a place in this book, the book is inclusive and readily embraces multiculturalism.  At the core of the book for example, is a cheerful story, a story of friendship and kindness that could easily be a universal theme. 

In terms of age-range, this book works well with toddlers (and must surely sell well and do well in board book format?). It is very simple, very soft and calming, very repetitive. It's good for vocabulalry building, especially of fruits and animals. The book is a bit to straightforward and repetitive to interest slightly older children I think, trying to spot and name the animals brings interest to the three year olds, but by four my children at least, have proclaimed to have grown out of this story. Handa's Surprise inspires a vast array of supplementary reading activities online though, so the longetivity of the book could be easily increased. 

In all, this is a short, cheerful book offering insight for young children into a way of life in a specific part of  Kenya. It gets the thumbs up as a read which embraces diversity.  

Stella Brings the Family

Author: Miriam B Schiffer
Illusrations: Holly Clifton-Brown
Published: 2015

'Stella Brings the Family' is a celebration of diversity in families. It captures the conversation of diversity in modern classrooms, wherein pupil Stella is pondering who she might invite to her class celebration for Mother's Day when she has no mum and two dads. The theme of difference or feeling different is approached so astutely in this book, with no homogeneity in sight; Stella's class is a multicultural milieu inter-spliced with single parents, extended families, same sex parents, and even a reference to working parents ( who can't make the celebration) thrown in there too. 

This book feels very fresh; it's a proud celebration of all families and is mightly inclusive. Sadly, during the litmus test that are my children, my five year old boy informed me that 'the pictures say the book is for girls' (which makes me realise how important it is to read books about diversity!) but I believe he's basing this observation on familiarity with gendered conventions in children's literature, in that 'books for girls' (eek!) tend to illustrate attractive people, and 'boy books' (argh!) generally play more on illustrating boogies, gore and the grotesque. Yes, admittedly, while the families are all diverse in some respects, they're all still beautiful and easy on the eye, smiling away and with great hair and fashion sense. Maybe 'Stella brings the family' is a a tiny bit too sickly sweet in parts then, ironic given that the overall message of the book strives to undercut gender norms, in that, when Stella is questioned by the other children as to who performs the roles 'of a mum' in her family, it's self explanatory for her that those roles are undertaken by a dad. 

The book does make a very important contribution though- it's really warming to see a children's book suitable for the preschool age represent a range of families, both in terms of ethnicity and dynamics. The narrative is very understated; there could have been a lot of unnecessary dialogue about how Stella and her friends came to be in their families but it's all implied and ripe for discussion with parents. It's a useful book for biological, foster, adoptive and blended families in that sense, and I especially like that the book closes on light quip, in that now the child with two mums is having to think who she might take to Father's Day. Stella of course, decided to invite everyone.