ALA Booklist (Mon May 01 00:00:00 CDT 2000)

Similar in look, concept, and layout to Morris' other photoessays, such as Weddings (1995) and Teamwork (1999), this volume offers photographs of families around the world, strung together along a thread of text. Each page carries one, two, or three photos, and sometimes a word or phrase as well. Visually, the book makes the point that families come in many varieties, with one parent or two, with or without brothers and sisters or extended family. Sometimes family members look like each other, but not always. The text explains that some members are adopted or living with a foster family or a grandparent. The book will be generally reassuring to children, except those old enough or observant enough to question the basic truth of sentences such as the one that opens this book: Everyone, everywhere is part of a family. (Reviewed May 15, 2000)

Horn Book (Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 2003)

Morris tackles this subject by drawing on international sources of photographs and juxtaposing pictures from such diverse places as Canada and Ethiopia. Her simple text emphasizes the diversity and similarities of the world's families, but one of the statements, "all children are part of families," does not take into account parentless children who live in institutions. A map and an index detailing the photos' origins are appended.

Kirkus Reviews

Sticking to her tried and true formula (i.e., eye-catching photographs of people from all over the world accompanied by brief snippets of text), the author celebrates the concept of family. She includes many of the different forms a family can take—large or small, traditional or single-parent, foster, or biological. All are represented in this book. The text clearly and simply explains that what makes a family a special unit is that its members love each other, have fun together, and are there to help each one another. The presentation of family is certainly idealized here (perhaps the book should be called "Happy Families"). It would have been nice to see a few photos of angry, fighting families, just so the child listening to this story wouldn't feel that something is wrong with his or her own family if its members aren't always smiling and cheerful. While much of this ground has already been covered in Morris's own Loving (1990) as well as in many other books, teachers and librarians will be happy to have this attractive and useful book in their collections. (Picture book. 4-7)

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2-Through spare, simple text and appealing color photographs, Morris shows readers that "all children-are part of families" and that they come in all sizes, nationalities, and configurations. The format varies so that each page features one large or several smaller pictures. The text explains that "People in families love and care for one another-help one another-play together-cook-eat-and celebrate together." The book depicts family interactions in the United Kingdom, the United States, Ethiopia, Canada, Vietnam, South Korea, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Japan, and India. An index of photographs identifies each group and its nationality and a map indicates where the photos were taken.-Joyce Rice, Limestone Creek Elementary School, Jupiter, FL Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.