“Some kids have two mommies … and some kids have two daddies,” and some kids have families of other forms whom we meet in this book based on the author’s viral Tik Tok song, set to the tune of the 1964 theme song from The Addams Family (which readers who don’t know it can search for online). We meet children who live with grandparents, aunts or uncles, stepparents, or siblings; families with one parent; children who were adopted or have foster parents; children who live in group homes; children with parents who live in different houses; children with nonbinary parents; and children in poly families with lots of parents. It’s upbeat and inclusive (even if “nonbinary” needs to be sung “non-bin-AR-y” to make the meter work).
It may not always be accurate to say that “Some kids live in group homes! And that’s their family!” when sometimes group homes are only temporary residences for children who are then reunited with their families of origin, but that’s a level of detail the book doesn’t get into. The book can, however, be used as a launching point for further discussion, aided by two pages at the end where readers are encouraged to draw both their own family and one different from theirs.
The illustrations show people with a variety of racial and ethnic identities, physical abilities, and gender expressions, and we see characters who could be read as trans or nonbinary on more than just the pages that talk specifically about queer identities.
