A sweet story about extended family, related and chosen.
A girl named Harper attends a family reunion with her two dads. Some of the people there are ones she knows, like her grandparents and an aunt, uncle, and their kids—but she also meets cousins of various degrees, a great-aunt raising her grandkids, relatives with different last names, and more. Many of the cousins have vastly different skills and talents. Harper finds it all very confusing, especially when her cousin Noah (who lives with his mom and foster sister) observes that he thought a family meant “the people you live with.”
Harper’s Dad explains that different people in a family can look different and have different talents, and that some people change their names when they marry, but they’re all still part of the same family. Harper still wonders where they’re all going to live, and if she’ll have to share her room. And whose house rules would they follow?
Her Daddy then explains the concept of extended family, “lots of smaller families who are all connected into one big family. It’s like a big web!” He adds that people can be in the same family web because they are related or because they are people we choose, but that all families are connected by love. Harper is relieved to know she won’t have to share a room, “except for cousin sleepovers!”
This s a lovely little tale of extended family, filling a real gap in LGBTQ-inclusive picture books. The warm-toned illustrations effectively capture the love and joy of this one big family
Harper and one dad have medium-brown skin and dark brown hair; her other dad reads as White. Other family members have a variety of skin tones and racial identities.
