Families

Ann Morris' book 'Families' is a sparsely worded text filled with photos of various types of families throughout the world. Care has been taken to ensure that families are shown in a variety of contexts and represent a wide spectrum of population. However, Morris explicitly reveals the commonality of families via text and implicitly through carefully clustered photos. The book enumerates the rituals and activities in which all families, regardless of size and form, share: eating, playing, helping each other, sharing, celebrating, working, loving and caring. The final pages of the book contain a slideshow like guide of photos and captions explaining each photo in the book and the country of origin of the families. There is also a map show more that asks "Where in the world were these photographs taken?" For a teacher of younger children this book is not only an introduction to the idea of multiculturalism, but is also a powerful tool to elicit a complex conversation on how things can be very different, yet, be so very similar. show less

I really enjoyed this book because the photographs showed an equal and accurate representation of many different types of families. There were pictures of families of all different backgrounds. I loved that the author included a family with a child with disabilities, as well as photographs of families celebrating different holidays together. There was a page with a family celebrating Shabbat, and another celebrating the Day of the Dead. I think that this book would be great to share with children because they will be able to identify with at least one aspect of this book. The text also discusses foster families, blended families, and adoptive families. While there was limited text on each page, the author did a great way of keeping show more concepts concise and to the point. The flow of the story was smooth and there was no bias whatsoever. In all, this book demonstrates that all families and traditions are special which is something children should learn at a young age. show less

I had mixed feelings about this book after reading it. This picture books main idea expresses the concepts of families and how different, yet the same, all families around the world are. The photographs throughout the book are one reason why I liked this children’s book. The book contained multiple photographs of different families, whether they were eating in the picture, playing together, or just posing for a family picture. The photographs really brought the entirety of the book together and what it was about. Next, I liked that the book was a multicultural book, and something different than the typical children’s book. For example, rather than having an entire book about a Brown Bear, or one all about a Dinosaur, this book is show more one that is really deep and provides the reader with information of the various ways a family is made up of, whether they are those with two parents, one parent, no parent at all, etc. On the other hand, I didn’t like how some families were left out of the book. The book represented people from the U.S, Canada, Brazil, Russia, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, India, and South Korea, but left out people from Mexico, African-American families, and others. This gave me a bad representation of the book, because some students who may read it may feel left out by not seeing a picture of their culture and their “family”. show less

I really liked Ann Morris' book, Families. The big idea of this book was too describe all the different type of families that exist and show that there is no 'normal' family; every one is unique. I like this book because it broadens the readers perspectives. This book talks about foster families, adoptive families, families with one parent, or interracial families which breaks away from societies image of a perfect family being a two parent household with a mother and a father. I also like this book because the images are appropriate. Rather than using drawings the author represents all the different types of families with real photographs. I thought it fit very well because it is an informational text and the photos make the book seem show more more real. show less

An exploration of different families and cultures of the world. I loved the real photographs in this book that showed the many different families. This book promotes diversity and shows that families can come in many different sizes and cultures. This book also teaches about the structure of families and can be used to teach young students many different lessons. I enjoyed this book and could see this book being implemented in the classroom to enhance lessons. I loved how the index described where each family in each picture was from to show different regions of the world.

I read this book for the first time while selecting books for my text set. I had never read this book before but I enjoyed it and found it to be very informative. One reason that I liked this book was because of the illustrations that were used. I thought having real photographs in the book enhanced the text. Additionally, I thought the real photographs helped the readers to visualize how different families really are in both size and color. Another reason why I liked this book is because I thought the book pushed readers to understand an important topic about diversity. This book pushed readers to understand that there are many different types of families out there. I think this is an important topic and I believe that it is helpful show more for students to understand the diversity that exists amongst families. In my opinion, I believe that the overall message is that all families are important regardless what kind they are. show less

Families is a picture book that uses real photographs. I feel like the pictures in the book speak louder than the words. It was basically letting the reader know that we all come from a family, no matter where or how that family came to be. This would be a good book to use in my class if we talk about family or different countries because you see photographs from several countries.