All Kinds of Families!

           Title: All Kinds of Families            

Author: Mary Ann Hoberman

Ilustrated by Marc Boutavant

Grade level: PreK-1

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

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If you liked this book might also like these  books about different families as well!

To learn more about the author click here.

 

Summary: Since it takes a village to raise a child it takes all kinds of people build a family. The important message this story sends to the reader is that families come in all different shapes and sizes; they can be mixed with an array of people from various backgrounds and beliefs. All Kinds of Families is a picture book that is written with rhyming poetry. The artwork in this book is very vibrant and has great detail. Marc Boutavant puts faces on everything in the story showing that everything we see is a part of someone’s family somewhere. Overall, this book brings a sense of belonging and community to the readers which are great messages that should be sent to young children in a changing society. As the story states “families are people and animals too but all sorts of other things fit into a families, look all around and you’ll see that they do!” 

Element: Element 2: Respect for Others

All Kinds of Families is a story about showing children that families can be made of anything they can imagine. It shows acceptance of all different kinds of families and how to accept different families. This book has no negative connotations and deconstructs any kinds of stereotypes a young child may have about how a family should be. Mary Ann Hoberman focuses in on how families can form out of anything therefore; children can know that whatever kind of family they have is a perfect one.

Activity: For this book I would do a lesson on family ancestry. The students would use graphic organizers to make the different kinds of families in the story to show them that a family can be as abstract as a fork, knife and spoon. I would have the students find out about their families by talking to their parents and filing out an ancestry sheets. Then the students will make family trees using a tree worksheet to connect the pictures or names of their family members all the way down to them. The students will then show their family trees to the whole grade and as a class discuss how everyone has different families.