Rosmarie Hausherr

Summary: "Celebrating Families" is a book that showcases different children and their families. It discusses many different family dynamics and family problems, for example, a nuclear family who is homeless, a father who is in jail where his son visits him often, and a foster family.

Review: The central message of "Celebrating Families" is all families are different and unique in many ways, however, all families are equally special. The title of the book, "Celebrating Families," shows that show more the book embraces and celebrates all family dynamics. Every time the reader turns the page in the book, he/she is introduced to another family that may have problems or different living arrangements from other families. However, the common similarity of each family in the book is that the family loves each other, which is why no matter what type of family a child has, love connects all families. In my opinion, this book was a nice way to inform readers of different types of family dynamics and celebrate each one. This is because each family page described the family's routines, living arrangements or etc. Also, the book helped readers to connect to the families by having a child present their family since this book is aimed toward children who are in the K-2nd grade. show less

Retelling: This book is organized into questions about food and then their answers. The questions usually represent a category of food, for example, 'what foods are flowers that we eat?' Then it goes on to describe what the food is, how it is grown or born and processed.

Thoughts and Feelings: Not knowing where my food comes from is frustrating to me. Maybe it's frustrating to you too. This is very helpful information. I was surprised to learn that peanuts are not nuts but legumes and peppers show more and pumpkins are called "vegetables," but technically they're fruit because they have seeds inside. show less

What Food is This? Author and photographer Rosemarie Hausherr has produced a lovely picture book that describes the origins of all different types of foods. The photographs alternate between black and white, when describing and giving botanical and informational facts about foods, and bright color photography when picturing children asking the reader to answer a riddle and guess what food is coming on the next page. The book introduces elementary students to vocabulary and complex concepts, show more such as aggregate and nourishment, in a simple and easily understandable manner. Students will delight in seeing familiar foods, growing underground in a garden, or a closeup of something new, like a tiny cabbage plant being held by a child just like them. The interactive book covers not only plant-based foods but how we catch and prepare fish or raise livestock for meats that taste great cooked over an open fire. This is a versatile book, packed with information that could be used to teach a variety of subjects. show less

Summary:

This informational picture book explores the real lives of fourteen young children and tells a little expert about the different families and cultures they come from. Every page is about a different child and offers many pictures of that child and their family. All of the families are unique and different in their own way. There are children from all different ethnicities, religions, and cultures. One family lives in the suburbs, while another lives on a farm and another lives in a show more self-sustaining community of neighbors. There are also foster children, special needs parents, homeless families, one-parent families, two-parent families and same sex parents. This book celebrates the differences of all sorts of families from around the world.

Comments (opinions/arguments):

This book is so fun, happy and inviting just by looking at the front cover. Its bright red cover with many smiling happy faces of children make this book really stick out. I really enjoyed this short picture book because it’s simple, yet offers so much within its pages. I love how each page honors a different child and gives you a little bit of an insight into their family life. The pictures of the families also add so much detail and explanation to the words. I think children will really enjoy this book because they will probably relate to many of the children in different ways and it will show them that all families are different. Regardless that all families are different, it will also show children how happy other children are regardless of where they come from or how they grow up. Each child shares information about their family that they’re proud of. I also love that all of the children in this book come from such unique families and you can see from their smiling faces that they love them. There are children that come from all walks of life. They come from the suburbs, farms, cities and other countries. Some of them are being raised by one parent, two parents, grandparents, foster parents, special needs parents, and even same-sex mothers. show less