2000 CBC/NCSS Notable Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies Norma Simon uses both the neighborhood and the international stage to celebrate children. Each carefully chosen example and comparison will help to forge a connection to friends and neighbors, other cultures, and faraway lands. As children enjoy this book, the world will grow a little smaller while understanding and acceptance will grow larger.

Explores in words and pictures what a family is and how families vary in makeup and styles. In a book far ahead of its time, All Kinds of Families celebrated the broad diversity of American families when it was first published in 1976. Now Norma Simon and Sarah S. Brannen have updated this classic for the modern age. Multicultural and multigenerational people demonstrate what being in a family means and how all families offer each other support and love.

The beloved, bestselling Nancy Tillman returns with a picture book celebrating what makes every child special in their own way.

No matter your size, shape, or pedigree--if you love each other, you are a family! Moms, dads, sisters, brothers — and even Great Aunt Sue — appear in dozens of combinations, demonstrating all kinds of nontraditional families! Silly animals are cleverly depicted in framed portraits, and offer a warm celebration of family love. From School Library Journal PreS-Gr 1—Imagine a house with many rooms, whose walls each have a different color or wallpaper, accenting a family portrait hanging there. On a rustic wooden wall hangs the first portrait—a large family of ducks posing beside a still pond. The next spread shows three pandas in pink vests, much like the pink oriental wallpaper behind them. Each portrait features a gently rhyming line: "Some children live with their grandparents…/and some live with an aunt./Some children have many pets…/and some just have a plant." All of these appealing images demonstrate different ways of being a family. "Some children live with their father./ Some children have two mothers./Some children are adopted./Some have stepsisters and—brothers." The cartoon-style critters contrast pleasantly with more realistic elements—a bamboo plant, a slender ceramic dog, a fat ceramic cat. Families of hippos, tigers, lions, ostriches, and whales join the other family groups in the final spread. The loud-and-clear message is that "if you love each other, then you are a family." And imagine the many children who will be reassured because they have found a portrait of a family they will recognize as their own. A solid choice for most libraries.—Mary Jean Smith, formerly at Southside Elementary School, Lebanon, TN

Rookie Reader, Level A.

Winner of a Parent's Guide Children's Media Award No two families are the same, but every family is special. When Mrs. Mack says she will soon be a grandmother, her students realize that teachers have families just like they do! Suddenly everyone in the class wants to share information about his or her own unique family. Sarah tells of flying to China with her parents where they adopted her sister, Rachel. Christopher tells about his parents' divorce. They are still a family, but now he and his brother spend a few days every week at their dad's apartment. Nick lives with his parents, five siblings, and his grandparents―they need to order three large pizzas for dinner! And Hannah tells how she loves to garden with her two mommies.

With irresistible, rollicking rhyme, beloved picture book author Mary Ann Hoberman shows readers that families, large and small, are all around us. From celery stalks to bottle caps, buttons, and rings, the objects we group together form families, just like the ones we are a part of. And, as we grow up, our families grow, too. Mary Ann Hoberman gives readers a sense of belonging in this all-inclusive celebration of families and our role in them.

Portrays everyday situations in which children see themselves as "different" in family life, preferences, and aptitudes, and yet, feel that being different is all right.

What kind of awesome will you be? Jess Hitchman's joyful, playful picture book, All Kinds of Awesome, celebrates children finding their passions and embracing their own awesomeness, and is paired with adorable illustrations by Vivienne To of a diverse and multicultural group of kids, all coming together on the final line of: "You will always be awesome to me." With a message of acceptance and inspiration at the heart of this story, All Kinds of Awesome shows how amazing kids are today and how they can grow their interests and passions into something even cooler.

"Wherever you live, whoever you are, friends are important, all kinds of friends." In the spirit of her classic book, All Kinds of Families, Norma Simon leads us through a celebration of friendship—school friends, family friends, grownup friends, even pet friends! Simple, reassuring and thoughtful, children will recognize themselves—and their friends—on every page.