Many parents I know have loved the diversity of families and other aspects of identity in All Are Welcome, by Alexandra Penfold and illustrated by Suzanne Kaufman. The duo has just released their second follow-up book, in which the same community welcomes a new family. It’s another joyous (and queer-inclusive) delight!
“What is a community? It’s a place for you and me,” begins All Are Neighbors (Knopf) as the familiar characters lead the new arrivals (and us) through the neighborhood, showing that “We are all neighbors here” despite many differences in our lives.
Along the way, we encounter people with diverse racial, ethnic, and religious origins, and the neighborhood reflects this. There’s a dim sum house, a taco truck, a halal market, a barber shop, and more. We look in on windows showing scenes of family life, stroll through markets and a coffee shop (with a rainbow flag poster on the wall), and check out the library, the park, and other places. We see neighbors talking, waving, smiling, and helping take care of each other and of their neighborhood.
There are varied gender roles as well: the automotive store is run by a woman, while another leads a martial arts class; we see men caring for babies. There are also multiple people with visible disabilities, with wheelchairs and crutches, but active and independent. One character who uses a wheelchair is bringing his child to the library and around town; another is in the martial arts class; another is helping spin a jump rope for a friend.
There is also a two-mom couple and another two-woman couple where one person is pregnant; a two-dad couple; and one child character whose rainbow socks, hair tie, and flag imply some form of queer identity. (‘m tagging the book “Nonbinary/genderqueer kid” since I think they could be read that way, although their specific identity is not stated explicitly.) The new family consists of a single mom and two children, who have brown skin and straight, dark hair (except for the baby, who has no hair yet).
Author Alexandra Penfold keeps the rhyming text simple, and Suzanne Kaufman’s illustrations provide a wealth of details to explore, as we trace characters across the pages and throughout their days. The fullness of the neighborhood and its inhabitants bring to mind the children book classics of Richard Scarry, though with humans instead of Scarry’s anthropomorphic animals, and a more contemporary, diverse view of the world.
This is actually the third book by Penfold and Kaufman with the same characters. Big Feelings explores a situation among the children of the community, who must work through varied emotions as they attempt a project together. Although there’s no clear queer inclusion, the same character with the rainbow socks is in it, who I am choosing to read as queer. (The character’s rainbow flag in All Are Neighbors offers another clue.)
A lovely further unfolding of the people and community the duo has created, and a model for us all.
