Book Review: Welcome to the Family/The Great Big Book of Families

We were sent copies ofThe Great Big Book of Families and Welcome to the Family, both by Mary Hoffman and Ros Asquith for review.

I was really excited to receive these, as I know S is getting to that age where she’s likely to notice differences between families – and the fact she doesn’t have a daddy, when lots of her friends at nursery do. These books are both designed to help explain to children, and show them that families take lots of different forms.

The first page of The Great Big Book of Families

The Great Big Book of Families is all about differences in families: some live in a house, others live in a flat; some children go to school; some are taught at home. It’s a simple way of looking at all the differences between individuals and families, and is great for starting that conversation about what happens in your family, from the types of foods you eat to the type of work your parents do, the clothes you wear and the type of celebrations you have.

What I love about this book is that there aren’t many words; it’s mainly illustrations (perfectly done) that make it easy to read with younger children.

A page from Welcome to the Family

Welcome to the Family is very similar to the Great Big Book of Families. Tis one is all about all the different forms “family” can take and is great for explaining that not all children have one mummy, one daddy and one brother/sister. It shows families with lots of children and those with one; families with two mummys, two daddies, adopted children, foster families, IVF, step families, blended families.

I love the way it shows all of these on an equal footing: “sometimes a family looks like this; sometimes it looks like this.” There is no difference in value or validity between any of the different types of family mentioned. Again, the illustrations are perfect and there aren’t too many words so it’s something you can use to help explain different types of family to children from a very young age.

We love both of these books; S has enjoyed looking at them with me a few times now and seeing all the different brothers and sisters and mummies and daddies. I think both will come in handy when it comes to explaining how our family is different from those of a lot of her friends.

Thanks for reading.

You can read my other book reviews here.