Love Is a Family

Rating:
Summary: Modern Families
Review: A beautiful and tender look into the "modern" structure of the family through the eyes of a child who realizes that a family doesn't require a particular "shape" or "number" to make it any more real. As a city librarian, I deeply appreciate an author sensitive enough to present a story capable of being read to ANY group of children without pushing political or "alternative lifestyles".

Rating:
Summary: A Glaring Omission
Review: This book initially delights the eye, especially if you are familar with and fond of Downey's TV character, and draws the reader in to a story in which every child is sure to find themselves and their family represented. Almost.

The absence of same-sex parent families is so obvious that it seems a deliberate act of exclusion. This is heartbreaking when the book is chosen by a child of such a family specifically in hopes of seeing a family similar to their own. There are so few books available for children of gay families that it seems a shame to have missed such an obvious opportunity to help meet that need.

Aside from this omission, the book itself is a simple story that can be shared with children of nontraditional, hetero parent families. With so many families today that don't fit the mom/dad/child stereotype, there is certainly a large potential audience for the book. The illustrations are colorful but somewhat dark throughout, and the author clearly received an ego stroke when the illustrator chose to portray her face so clearly as one of the main characters.

Overall, this book fails in what appears to be its primary goal: To be a resource for children of non-traditional families and to show the value of all families, whatever their makeup.