Celebrating Families

Celebrating Families is a book that presents a visual cross section of real children, their families and life in America. Using both color, black and white photography, as well as a short essay written by each child who's family is photographed, the reader is able to catch a glimpse into the life of these children and their families. The mood that is set by the individual photographs and short written presentations arouses the emotions, and creates a fasination to read on while sparking critical thinking. Appropriately represented are traditional and non- traditional family types and members that are: adopted, foster, handicapped, imprisoned, single parent, two parent and extended. The families depicted are just as varied in their ethnicity, class and gender as they are in type. I like this book because the families are real. Celebrating families helps to increase discovery of cultures and prompts children to reflect and understand the condition of humankind. The message that is conveyed in this book is love, survival and the reality that we are more alike than different.