A Family Like Yours

A Family Like Yours By Rebecca Kai Dotlick, Illustrated by Tammie Lyon

Picture Book for Children Ages 2-8

5 Out Of 5 Stars

All over the world, between humans and animals, many different characteristics of families exist, but the only family that is right for you is the one that is your own!

A Family Like Yours represents a wonderful as well as a well-written story. The flow of the text brings music to the ears as it is written in a poetic fashion with many rhyming words between lines. The illustrations match the text perfectly and provide extra detail about the family characteristic that the page is displaying. Another wonderful part of the illustrations is that they represent metaphors of the text. For example, on page states “And others are happy just hanging around.” On this page, the illustration is of a family of possums pictured literally hanging, upside down, from a tree. The large variety of descriptions of families, represented as opposites, make this picture book a great book to show that differences between families are okay. Each person who reads this story can identify with at least one, if not half, of the descriptions described in this story. While reading this story, children will reflect upon their own families and other families that they know and characterize them. At the end, they will learn that one family is no better than another based upon its characteristics, but that each family is perfect just the way they are. A Family Like Yours represents a behavioral type of culture because it describes the family structure as a culture. While reading this story, children will be able to validate their own personal images of their family and their family’s backgrounds while also gaining the perspective of what other people’s families might be like. Due to this parallel, this book could be considered both a mirror and a window book.

I would definitely use this book within my classroom, especially if I was teaching the second grade where the main theme in Social Studies is the family. Regardless of whether I used A Family Like Yours as a trade book in Social Studies or Reading/Language Arts, I would use it in the same way. First, I would have my students complete a drawing and writing activity of their view of the perfect family. Some students might draw their own families, some might draw their friend’s families, and others might just draw a fictional family. We would then tape all of these pictures up onto the board and discuss what it is that the students think comprises a perfect family. Next I will read A Family Like Yours. At the end of the story, I will ask the students what they think of the book, and if they have learned anything about their idea of the perfect family. Next, I would have the students draw and write about their own family and the things they like about to show it. Each student would then present their drawing and read what they wrote about their family and why it fits just right for them. My whole goal of this activity is get the students to understand that each family is different, but that no family actually is perfect or better than a different family. Hopefully each student will gain a broader perspective of the different family cultures that exist and also learn to celebrate these differences because each family is a great family for its own reasons.