Six stories pack this single book about a young boy having fun with his friends, who each have different family structures. The book is British, but most American readers should have no trouble realizing that “mum” is “mom” and “football” is “soccer.” While it teaches children about different types of families and in particular gives children in blended families greater representation, not everyone will like how adoption is discussed.
Two introductory pages tell us a little about the characters before the stories get started (though the children’s family structures are also well explained in the stories that follow, so I’m not sure why we need this). Howie, who is White, has a divorced mum and dad, and he now also has a stepmum and a stepdad. He splits his time between two houses. Joshua is Black and has two dads, who “made me with the help of an egg donor.” (Presumably they used a gestational surrogate, too, but that is not mentioned.) Liza, a White girl, has two mums who “made me with the help of a sperm donor.” Her mums divorced and she now has two mums and a stepmum, splitting her time between two homes. I don’t see the relevance of mentioning egg and sperm donors, which have nothing to do with the tales. (And if the method of family creation is explained for the two-dad and two-mom families, it should arguably be explained for all of the mom-dad families, too.)
Henry, a brown-skinned boy, has a mum and dad who divorced. His mum then remarried a woman, and Henry spends time in two homes. His eyes are always drawn as lines, which perhaps indicates a fumbling attempt to code him as Asian. Oliver is a White boy whose parents died in an accident. He now uses a wheelchair and lives with his grandparents.
Flora, a brown-skinned girl, was adopted by her mum and dad as an infant after her birth parents “weren’t able to take care of me properly. “I am the luckiest girl in the world,” she tells us. Many adoptive parents and adoptees strongly reject the “lucky” trope, however—see here, here, here, here, here, and here, for example.
Each story then starts with a poem about Howie and how “his family may look different to yours,” but the love that families share is all the same. Each story also includes the image of a tree with each highlighted family’s members in it as bright red apples.
In the first story, Howie is having a birthday party with all of his friends. Usually, he has two parties, one with each parent/stepparent pair, but this year, he’s having just one, with everyone. The best part of the day, for all the kids, is putting their own toppings on their pizzas—all different, just like their families, Flora observes.
The next story has Howie visiting Joshua and his two dads to go swimming. The dads make hamburgers and offer many different toppings, reminding Howie of Flora’s remark about pizza toppings and families.
Howie then spends a day with Liza and one of her mums and stepmums. Her other mum is having a birthday, and Liza is trying to think of a present. Howie helps Liza bake her a cake.
Next, Howie visits Flora’s house. We’re told that “Her mummy and daddy chose Flora when she was a little baby” after her birth parents “couldn’t take care of her properly” (but again, see this piece, which highlights some problems with the idea that adoptive parents “chose” their child). Howie and Flora dress up as aliens and have a fun day.
The fifth story shows Howie and Henry playing football (soccer) all day, supervised by Henry’s mum and stepmum. At the end of the day, the women suggest the boys meet again next weekend. Henry will be with his dad, his mum notes, but the adults can still arrange this—which may reassure children that their divorced parents are still working together to ensure some continuity in their lives.
The final story has Howie at his mum and stepdad’s house, then visiting Oliver. Oliver’s grandfather draws a chalk racetrack on the driveway and the two boys race, Oliver in his wheelchair and Howie on his bike. Oliver wins (though his chair looks unfortunately like a “hospital chair” and not a chair built for autonomy).
Author Jenny Guay is herself raising stepchildren with her partner, who shares custody of two children with her ex-wife. I appreciate that she saw a need for more stories about blended families—LGBTQ-inclusive picture books about divorced parents, much less remarried ones, are rare (though a few exist). The stories feel a little wordy for picture books and would probably work best for younger children as read-alouds. Children in blended families may be reassured by seeing how Howie, Liza, and Henry live happy lives between their two homes, with their parents and stepparents working together to ensure their well-being. (Would that this were the case for all divorced parents.) Children may also learn something from all six main characters about many different types of families, all united by the same love. Some adoptive families, however, may not like how adoption is framed here, and other readers should be cautious about perpetuating those sentiments.
