Families Are Different (Holiday House Book)

4yrs.-7yrs.
Is about a girl name Nico that tells her family's story of adoption including sometimes feeling sad that her family is different. She becomes aware that the many diverse components of each family are what makes each family special. Nico talks about adoption and how she looks different

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from her mom and dad. She even talks about arguing with her older sister and loving her even though they fight! She mentions her dog Buster and that many families have different dogs as well different people.

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This is a great book to incorporate into the classroom. This book is appropriate for children from kindergarten to the first grade. This story is told by a young girl, so the sentences are short, simple, and easy to understand. This book discusses how families can look different, for example the

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narrator was a little girl from Korea that was adopted by her American parents. The little girl asked her mom why she didn't look like her parents, and her mom replied that even though families can look different from others, all families are held together by the same "glue". They went on discussing families that have one child living with their grandparents, children with a single mom or a single dad, and children of mixed races. This story is a great representation of how people can be different, and is also great exposure for children to be aware that it's okay that someone's family looks different from theirs.This lead to the central message that even though families can look different, they all are held by the same "glue", meaning that they are held together by love. This book emphasizes acceptance and diversity, making it a great story for young readers.

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I had mixed feelings about this book because while I don’t feel that it has much to offer in terms of literary richness, it does deal with delicate topic of familial differences in a gentle way. For example, the story is told from the perspective of a young, adopted Korean girl named Nico who

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notices that her family looks different from her classmates’ families; her parents are much older. “They don’t look like me, either,” Nico says. The story could be relatable to a lot of children in terms of the content of the plot. Nico, the likeable main character, realizes that each of her classmates have different families. The writing of this story is unique in that the author uses a narrative style to write an informational text. The illustrations are well-drawn and they fit with the story, but in my opinion, they aren’t very engaging. The big idea is that all families are different and they are glued together by love.

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I liked this book. I liked the illustrations of all the different types of families because it shows that being different is good. It showed a big family that all looked alike, a daughter and father as a family, and two parents with a biological child and an adopted child. I also liked the plot of

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the story because it focused on the differences amongst families and that is what makes each family unique. The big idea of this book is to show that all families are different and that is okay.

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Good because many children can make connections with this book. It is told from a boy who was adopted about how is family is different than other families but they are also the same. It goes into how all families are different, not just ones where someone was adopted. They look many examples of

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differences a family may have.

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This book has great promise but it is a bit dated. It does make the point that there are many different types of families, but some of the more "controversial" families structures are conspicuously absent. Again, this book about adoption is talking about children who were adopted internationally as

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babies. I think there must be better books out there to talk about different family structures. Actually, I remember reading one in class, "Molly's Family" by Nancy Garden was much better. I don't think I would use this book.
Interest Level Grades K - 2 Reading Level Grade level Equivalent: 4.2

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Love love love this book. This is an adoption story that shows no matter what type of family you come from as long as their is love its a a great one. I also liked how at the end of this book you get to see a variety of families to show that not all families look alike.

Teaching Ideas: i would use

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this book when teaching a lesson on family dynamics and ask the class to illustrate a picture of their family so we could see all the differences

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