Some children live with their mothers and fathers. Others have stepparents or live with just one parent. Still others live with grandparents or foster parents who chose them specially. But all children all around the world, are part of families–big and small, loving, sharing, and caring for one another. This look at all kinds of families from all over the world helps young children begin to think about families they belong to, as it gives them a glimpse into the rich variety of world cultures.
When I’m with my papá, I can fly like an eagle, an águila.
I can climb alto, high, in a tree,
And I am the ganador, the winner, of many races.
When I am with my papá, I hear the best cuentos, stories,
and I give him the biggest abrazos, hugs.
A young boy and his papa may speak both Spanish and English, but the most important language they speak is the language of love. Here, Arthur Dorros portrays the close bond between father and son, with lush paintings by Rudy Gutierrez.
“Papá, I don’t want to go to sleep. I’m scared.” Everyone knows that the trick to putting children to bed is creating a bedtime routine, and in this new children’s story from Victor Villaseñor, he recreates his own family’s bedtime tradition. Papá tells his son that every night when he was a boy, his mother would sing him to sleep with the turtledove song. “Coo-coo-roo-coo-coooo,” he sings, and tells the little boy about his very own Guardian Angel who will take him through the night sky to be reunited with God, or Papito Dios. “Then in the morning, you’ll come back refreshed, rested, and powerful as the wind.” As Papá sings the turtledove song to his son, he reminds the child that Mamá loves him, the dog and the cat love him, and his brothers and sisters love him too. Even the trees and grass and the flowers that dance in the wind love him. Gradually, the boy drifts off to sleep, feeling safe and warm in God\’s love and dreaming of the day when he will sing the turtledove song to his own children.
In a lively celebration of families in all their diversity and connections, this full-color photo-essay shows loving families across the world having fun together, eating, working, praying, teaching, learning, playing, and more.
A young girl describes the life that she and her brother share with their grandmother in her Caribbean island home, until their mother comes to take them away.