Kuklin, Susan. Families

[Teresa]

The concept is excellent, and the photographs are interesting. But, for some reason, the book as a whole doesn't seem award-worthy. I want more from the interviews. I understand the reason, and it is valid, to have the text in the words of the children. The selections of the interviews were too short maybe. I would have liked to hear the adult voices included and more expository and background information about each family.

That's just me. I look forward to reading other comments.

[Mandy]

I read this book several months ago, but it keeps coming back as one of my favorites. In fact, I just finished up a project (for one of my library school classes) based on this book. The project was an inquiry-based social studies unit for second graders.

The thing I appreciated about Families was that it really got me to think. The minimal amount of information given about each family left me with a whole bunch of questions about their cultures, religions, and daily life. Normally, I consider such a lack of information a weakness in non-fiction, but in this case I see it as a strength. I was inspired to research some of my questions and learn more about the people groups represented in the book.

I wonder if children would have the same reaction to Kuklin’s book. It seems like it would make for a great discussion starter and provide an opportunity for children to learn about people whose family structure, culture, religion, etc. are different from their own.

I also really like the fact that the book is very much created by the children – everything from the content to the photographs was dictated in some way by them. Knowing that the children decided on details such as which photos to include and what each family member would wear caused me to pay closer attention to these finer points of the book.