This story is guaranteed to relate to every single child in your classroom. This story tells all about the different types of families there are, and the different ways people become a family. This story goes through people living alone, with adopted children, blended-families, and even foster families.
I found this story beyond adorable, and I think that reading this to children could be exciting. If there is one thing I learned about children, it is that they looovvveee to share. I could see a family lesson being taught, where this story is read to students. From there, students can share about their families and make a project out of it. ( )

Welcome to the Family is a story that explains the different ways people become part of a family. Topics vary from being made in a glass dish to being in a foster home; nothing is left untouched. The main message is that, no matter how you are made, it is still important that you exist. The target audience for this book would ideally be 3rd graders because of some more mature discussions that take place. In my opinion, this book is a fantastic read. I like this book because of its structure of text, narrative, and main message. The text in this book is not structured in any uniform way; it often times appear to be thrown in to the book. However, that messy look gives the book a lot of appeal to younger audiences and makes it more entertaining to read as you have to search the page for the next piece of information somewhere about the illustrations. For example, on one page there are 3 narrative excerpts placed randomly on the page, 4 speech bubbles, and a small narrative bubble as well. Secondly, the narrative is fun and lively. This is throughout the entire book; readers find themselves getting excited simply by the change in tone of the narrator. For example, “And when that happens, the baby or child needs a new family that is right for them!” Lastly, the main message of this book is quite obvious after reading the last few sentences- “Welcome to the family—however you got there!” This is teaching children that we all are not made the same way or even journey the same way to our families, but that doesn’t mean that families are not families because of different journeys taken to get to where they are. ( )

In same approach used in The Great Big Book of Families, this book explores all the different ways a baby or child can become part of a family, including natural birth within a nuclear family, adoption, fostering, same-sex parents, and many other aspects of bringing babies or children home. ( )

I liked reading "Welcome to the Family" by Mary Hoffman. I liked this book for a few reasons. First, I liked this book because of the main idea. The main idea of the story is that every family is different. The story discussed each type of family, such as traditional families, blended families, gay marriages, adoption, remarried couples, and more. Secondly, I liked this story because of the illustrations. The pictures in this book reflected and acknowledged diversity because each person looked differently. For example, the illustrations pictured people with different skin tones and multicultural families. Lastly, I liked the book because it was informative. Although I know about the different types of families that exist in today's society, I still felt like I learned something. For example, I never knew a lot about foster families, and I was unaware that children could stay with a different family while their real parents needed time to adapt to the change. ( )