A GOOD BOOK // All Kinds of Families!

There goes another month brushed under the carpet, tucked out of sight and waiting until next year to show its face. To be honest I'm not really sure where this year has gone and there isn't a pause button in sight. So rather than freak out as 2014 flashes before my eyes, I'm celebrating April with this good book.

Before you read on you might remember how much I love Marc Boutavant's illustrations which I've written about here, here and here. Well I have another one to share with you,  a gorgeous book I bought for F when he was only a bump. All Kinds of Families! is a wonderful book introducing the concept of families, large or small,  to young children and looks at how they grow. Written by Children's Poet Laureate, Mary Anne Hoberman, it's no wonder the rhyming sing-song text runs effortlessly through the pages, exploring how everyday objects can be grouped together to create new families, while Boutavant's illustrations brings each object to life with bright colours and quirky characters, including a picnic of spools, animal numbers and moonlit beaches.

If you are the first baby born to your mother 

Your mother's a mother because you are here

if you are the first baby born to your father 

your father's a farther because you appear

The text above seems so simple, as a parent it's plain common sense, but to a toddler who can't fully grasp the concept of life before them, these words are quite poignant. It's a wonderful and interesting  way to explore the nature of families, what makes them, how they grow and how separate things brought together can make a new family, making it inclusive for all children. This beautiful book is certainly one for the bookshelf.