A bright book by authors and social media influencers Lewis and Richard Edwards-Middleton (@twodadsinlondon) about the power of families.
A young boy named Liam is excited about going to a funfair with his mum and dad and riding on the Ferris wheel. As he explores the fair, he meets friends and their families, who are diverse in many ways. We see several same-sex couples, including one two-dad couple, among them. There’s also a child with a mum and a step-dad, one with a single mum, and one with their grandparents (though it’s unclear if the latter two also have parent(s) elsewhere). At least one child has a gender that feels nonbinary or at least ambiguous.
The Edwards-Middletons keep this from being simply a dull set of encounters with one family type after another, however, by having Liam lose his all-important ticket for the Ferris wheel. The suspense grows: Where did it go? With the help of his family and those of his friends, they search the fairgrounds. The authors make this more interactive by asking questions of the reader (“Is the ticket in a popcorn bucket? There’s lots of buttery yellow popcorn but no bright blue ticket”) in between the characters’ dialogue with each other.
The dialogue feels a little stilted at times, and it’s unclear how the ticket ended up in the place where Liam ultimately finds it (or why a friend’s mom has to win it back for him rather than just take it), but young readers may not question such things. The book still offers the important message that we can work together with other types of families to accomplish things and that “Families are made in different ways” (though it doesn’t go into how). It concludes, “A family is people who care about you.” Andy Passchier’s illustrations, as always, are a cheerful delight.
