All Kinds of Families!
PreSchool-Grade 3—Hoberman has tackled the elusive question of what makes a family a family in this sometimes silly, sometimes serious book of rhymes. She likens families to numerous items that share a relationship and are inherently the same. Her refrain says it all, "Bottle caps, gingersnaps, buttons, or rings/You can make families from all sorts of things!" Other families include tools, balloons, thimbles, and marbles, but the verses make it clear that human families are much more than a conglomeration of like, easily categorized, things; they share a human history and the promise of many more families to come. No matter what, making a family is about seeing the likenesses, not the differences. Boutavant provides colorful illustrations that vary from page to page, but as a group, complement the rhymes. Pair this with Jusin Richardson and Peter Parnell'sAnd Tango Makes Three(S & S, 2005), Arnold Adoff'sBlack Is Brown Is Tan(HarperCollins, 2002); Nancy Coffelt'sFred Stays with Me!(Little, Brown, 2007), and Remy Charlip'sA Perfect Day(HarperCollins, 2007) to introduce the idea that, indeed, there are all kinds of families.—Joan Kindig, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.