Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Kuklin brings her interviewing and photography skills to a series of fifteen family portraits, each occupying a double-page spread, involving commentary from the children of the family, and including, in addition to Kuklin's two photographs, a family photograph selected by the children themselves. A broad range of families are represented on all fronts: religious affiliations include Christian, Orthodox Jewish, and Muslim; backgrounds are American, Indian, Egyptian, Korean; parents are straight and gay; some kids are twins, some kids are only children, some kids have disabilities. The photographs are eloquent portraiture, and the inclusion of one of the family's own photos (the kids often select one of their parents or other relatives) adds dimension. The breadth of families included is interesting, but it's their very part in that breadth that the kids repeatedly comment on, giving the book a purposive feel; whether that tendency reflects current American preoccupations or interview/editorial focus, the result is that the subjects' status as representatives tends to overshadow their voices as individuals (ironically, one of the most memorable voices is that of the girl who says, "Some people ask questions about how we are different. I'd rather they ask how we're alike"). This is nonetheless a solid and [End Page 271] useful book for providing a look at modern families; it will provide reassurance to youngsters who feel there's a norm their family should be attaining but isn't, and it could also serve as a model for kids' own family-presentation projects.