Family

Title: Family

Author: Isabell Monk

Illustrator: Janice Lee Porter

Publisher & Publication Date: Carolrhoda Books, 2001

Genre: Picture book, Multicultural

Age Range: K-3

Summary: Hope a little African American girl has been invited to her family's traditional, potluck, get-together. She is excited and wants to bring a surprise. She makes "Hope's sweet and sour pickles." She has them brought out with the desserts and then has everyone try them. She is nervous, but in the end everyone loves them.

Response: I thought this was a nice, multicultural story. It introduces new foods from her African American culture to the readers. I like how at the end of the book the recipes for the mentioned food items were given. It added a nice touch to the story. There was a combination of single and double-page spreads in the book. The illustrations were paintings. The illustrations of the people were sort of funky. They were oddly shaped and more cartoon like than actual looking people. The story made me think of the family gatherings I have been to. I am a very picky eater, so I don't usually try new things when I go to family gatherings. I definitely would not have tried the sweet and sour pickles in the story. The story made me laugh, but it made me a little sick because I am such a picky eater and those foods just did not sound appetizing to me.

Teaching Ideas: You could use this book to tie in with the family and cultural sections of social studies that lower elementary school teachers have to incorporate into their lessons. This would be a good book to introduce the topic of different cultures having different food choices and traditions. After you have read the book out loud to your class, have the students make a graphic organizer of their family compared to the family in the story. It is a good way to show similarities and differences among individuals.