ALL KINDS OF FAMILIES!
by Mary Ann Hoberman & illustrated by Marc Boutavant
Readers who approach this title expecting a 21st-century love-makes-a-family message overtly embracing adoptive, queer, blended and other diverse family constellations will be disappointed. Instead of approaching “all kinds of families” in this way, however, the author riffs on “family” as a synonym for “group,” describing not only human relationships but placing inanimate objects, animals and other things into family groups. The result is vintage Hoberman: Clever, rhyming wordplay mining a single concept for all it’s worth and a singsong cadence that begs to be read aloud combine to produce a text reminiscent of earlier collaborations with Betty Fraser in A House is a House for Me (1978) and The Cozy Book (1999). French artist Boutavant’s stylized, digitally produced illustrations are a clear departure from Fraser’s watercolors, but they share a high attention to detail, inviting children to pore over pictures for new discoveries on every page opening. (Picture book. 4-7)