The Family Book

The Family Book

By Todd Parr

Little, Brown and Company, 2003

Grades: PreK, K

Synopsis: Todd Parr is a master at making diversity understandable for younger children and The Family Book is no exception. The reader is introduced to animal and human families of every shape, size, and character. Throughout the book the idea that every family is alike but different persists: all families like hugs and like to celebrate, though some have step-parents or siblings or two moms or two dads, and some like to be noisy while some like to be quiet.

Jump: Not only could this book be used to discuss diversity on a PreK-friendly level, but it can also be a way to introduce the idea that numbers can be broken down in different ways. Students can create a picture of their house showing all the people who live there. On the door, they write how many people live in the house. On the side, they count and write how many girls and how many boys are in the house. When all students have the numbers for their house written down, then these numbers can be shared. Starting with one "door" number at a time, drawings and number sentences can be made to show each house (4 people = 2 boys + 2 girls and 4 people = 3 boys + 1 girl). Students will be able to make the connection between families being made of different people and numbers being made in different ways as well!