Welcome to the Family - Hardcover

Hoffman, Mary

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1847805922 ISBN 13: 9781847805928

Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2014

Synopsis

This book takes one element of The Great Big Book of Families – the arrival of new members into a family – and explores all the different ways a baby or child can become part of a family. The book includes natural birth within a nuclear family, adoption, fostering, same sex families and many other aspects of bringing babies or children into a family. The approach will follow the Great Big Book series, with twelve double spreads each exploring one theme, and including lots of humour, jokes and fun along the way. This is a unique information book, with an important and positive message – every family is different and every family is equally valid and special, no matter how or when the children arrive.

About this title

About the Author:

Ros Asquith has been a Guardian cartoonist for 20 years, and has written and illustrated over 60 books for young people, including the international bestseller, The Great Big Book of Families, with Mary Hoffman, and the Alien Schoolboy and Teenage Worrier series. She graduated from Camberwell School of Art, working as a photographer, designer and teacher before becoming a theatre critic for Time Out and the Observer, and diary writer for the TV Times. Her other titles, for Barn Owl Books, are The Roman Beanfeast and The Skiver's Guide. She has two sons and lives in north London.

MARY HOFFMAN is the internationally acclaimed author of over 100 books for children, ranging from picture books to teenage fiction. Her first picture book for Frances Lincoln, Amazing Grace, has become a classic which, with its sequels in the series, has sold 1.5 million copies worldwide. Mary's other picture books for Frances Lincoln include The Colour of Home with Karin Littlewood and An Angel Just Like Me with Cornelius van Wright, as well as the hugely successful The Great Big Book of Families, The Great Big Book of Feelings, and Welcome to the Family, all with Ros Asquith. Their next title together will be The Great Big Body Book. Mary Hoffman lives in Oxfordshire. For more information about her books visit her website: www.maryhoffman.co.uk

From School Library Journal:

K-Gr 3—This picture book serves as an introduction to what makes a family. Hoffman looks at both traditional and nontraditional units and details the various ways that families are formed. Heterosexual families, homosexual families, foster families, adopted families, and blended families are all highlighted. The emphasis on diversity is a welcome and much-needed addition to this subject. The author also discusses the various ways that children can be conceived ranging from typical conception to IVF to surrogacy. Humorous cartoons and diagrams keep the tone light and lively. Some of the phrasing is clumsy or confusing such as the line that states, "And when the baby is born, she or he is usually very welcome"—the implication being that not all babies are wanted by their parents. The text is often wordy or concerned with explaining concepts that children may not quite understand, like two mommies needing to go to a sperm bank in order to become pregnant or two daddies seeking a surrogate to carry their child. The author summarizes the main point of the story thusly: "there will always be new children and they will all need families. The important thing is feel happy in the family you belong to." This inclusive look at family life will be a useful addition where readers want a slightly higher level of sophistication and complexity.—Paige Garrison, Aurora Central Public Library, CO

About this edition

• Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children's Books
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1847805922
• ISBN 13: 9781847805928
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Asquith Ros