BEGINNINGS: How Families Come to Be

by Virginia Kroll ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1994

In warmly glowing illustrations and dialogue that exudes familial affection, sketches of six differently composed families. Each begins with a child's question -- ""Tell me, Mommy, about how I began,"" or, ""Daddy, when I was first born, you were just my Uncle Joe, right?"" -- leading into what's obviously a comfortable reiteration of a familiar tale: how Ruben ""grew inside, giving me a basketball belly...[and when] you came right out of me...Daddy and I sputtered and sparkled with joy""; how Katherine Grace came from Korea when her birth mother couldn't care for her; how Mark's single mother, before she died, asked her brother to care for her baby; how Olivia's single mom and Habib's parents arranged to adopt babies yet to be born; and how Nicole, who uses a wheelchair, was adopted into a large family at the age of six. Kroll's upbeat, realistic text and Schuett's vibrant acrylic and pastel art combine for a joyous take on the diversity of the contemporary family.

Pub Date: March 1, 1994

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Whitman

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1994

Categories: CHILDREN'S