This is a gem of a book about a growing family that begins with a mum and child, then adds a second mum; the child’s dad; the dad’s new wife; and their child. “When I was born, my family was Mummy and me,” the narrator (who is never gendered) begins. When they were one, Mummy met Jani, and they loved each other. When they were two, Mummy asked if they’d like Jani “to be your other mummy.” The narrator wants to know if Mummy will still hug her and if Jani will still read her stories. “Then my family was Mummy, Jani and me,” they tell us.
When they are three, David, “Mummy’s best friend and my daddy” comes to visit. Mummy asks the narrator if they would like David to live there, too. Then David meets Elizabeth and they plan to marry. The narrator’s mum asks the narrator if they would like David and Elizabeth to keep living there. Then Mummy says that David and Elizabeth are having a baby. Each development is followed by the narrator asking questions about how things will be, followed by a statement of “Then my family was…” and the people in it. I love the respect shown to the young narrator as the family expands. It isn’t something thrust upon them; they’re a part of the decision making. There’s also no sense that the family is incomplete at any stage, even as it grows.
Royce’s text is cadenced and lovely. McLean’s soft watercolor and ink images show sweet and gently humorous scenes of family life, reinforcing the things that stay the same (food, music, books, pets, love) even as the family evolves. The mum is Black; Jani, David, and Elizabeth are White, and the narrator is biracial.
This is a truly joyous and warm story of a family that, like more families today, includes a web of genetic and non-genetic connections. Aside from a few books that mention donor siblings, I don’t believe any other picture book has depicted such a family—though as the 2010 anthology for grown-ups, And Baby Makes More, shows, such families are very real. It’s about time there’s a picture book about them—and wonderful that it’s as good as Frizzle and Me. (This family’s web is only one of many, of course; let’s hope other books show other variations, too.)
