Families by Susan Kuklin
Youth Nonfiction – Lower Level – J306.85 K
This beautiful nonfiction picture book is just the ticket for children curious about families. Kuklin interviews New York children ages 4 to 14 from a multitude of backgrounds and photographs their families. The children tell us in their own words what they don’t like but mostly like about their family and their siblings. The families are lots of different colors and mixed; different religions; with two-parent, divorced and single parents, and adopted, only, and multiple siblinged children. The kids are charmingly passionate about their families, and the pictures (staged by the kids) tell a lot about the families. They include meaningful pictures from family photo albums, too, of grandparents or parents when they were young. Each family is a double spread, with large pictures and a fair amount of text. Probably a third or fourth grader could read it independently, and a couple years younger would enjoy it as a read-aloud. This is amazing collage of real, loving families from the kids’ point of view.