Customer Reviews

Families

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Angie, the narrator, introduces the reader to the many different family structures in an attempt to show that when it comes to families size doesn't matter as much as love. The message that it doesn't matter where a family lives or how big it is but how much they love each other that matters most is somewhat lost in this book behind many clear-cut stereotypes that should have been avoided in a book discussing the variety of family structures existing in our society today. While the narrator is quick to gain appreciation from readers by overcoming the stereotype that step-siblings have trouble getting along and saying, "He's my half brother. We have the same father but not the same mother so he's only a half, but he's just as good as a whole" she later begins to reinforce several stereotypes. The fact that her Spanish friend Marisol does not live with her dad is overshadowed by the stereotypical large Spanish family she does live with, containing Mom, Grandma, Grandpa, brothers, a sister, and an aunt. The high quality discussion about families with adopted children is forgotten when the narrator introduces us to Susie who lives with a mother and godmother but doesn't have a dad. While a brief discussion about non-traditional families could have been appropriately discussed here I am fearful that many children will have difficulty grasping this concept.

This book has been "attacked by censors"?! I read that ALA lie all the time. yet, nobody has been able to point out a single book that has been CENSORED or BANNED (another ALA con word!) in the US. Yet, books are banned and censored in communist countries daily and no word from librarians, teachers, book critics nor ALA. How interesting... So much for "censorship"!