Donovan’s Big Day (2011), written by the prolific and talented Lesléa Newman and charmingly illustrated by Mike Dutton, unfolds from the point-of-view of a young boy excitedly getting ready for his moms’ wedding ceremony.
Donovan is about nine-years-old with brown hair, green eyes, and pale white skin. His boyish bedroom is sparsely decorated but full of toys. It is here that the reader is introduced to the cheerful child who has a big day ahead of him. Continue reading
Dear Child (2008), written by John Farrell and illustrated by Maurie J. Manning, is a sweet and simple story about the love parents feel for their children. The narrative lyrically unfolds as a letter from a parent to a child. Diverse and inclusive images of families demonstrate the universality of parental love. Continue reading
A Card for my Father, written by Samantha Thornhill and illustrated by Morgan Clement, is brilliantly and beautifully told from the point-of-view of Flora Gardner, a little girl who has never met her father.
Flora has light brown skin and big expressive eyes underlined by a dash of freckles. Readers are introduced to her as she sits in a classroom, head resting on her hand as she contemplates how much she dislikes Father’s Day. Continue reading
Written by Lois Abramchik, with realistic black and white charcoal illustrations by Alaiyo Bradshaw, Is Your Family Like Mine? (1993) is about a little girl named Armetha. After starting Kindergarten, Armetha grows self-conscious that she doesn’t have a father. She begins to ask her diverse classmates about their families and realizes that some have divorced parents and live with step-familes, some have single parents, some live in foster care, and some live with a mom and dad. All families are different, but the most important thing is that they are connected by love. Continue reading
Families (2017), co-written by Jesse Unaapik Mike and Kerry McCluskey and illustrated by Lenny Lishchenko, introduces young readers to family diversity through the lives of students at a school in Iqaluit, the capitol city of Nunavut, a Canadian territory, which is majority Inuit. The lesson that all families are different is deftly introduced as the protagonist, a child named Talittuq, moves through his first day of year two at school.
