I have bought My Family Tree Book for several children as presents and my daughter has just received a copy from her grandparents. It is a beautifully illustrated activity book for children to record information about parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins and draw their own family tree.
My Family Tree Book is beautifully laid out with plenty of space to record information. At the beginning is a double page spread for the child and each parent to fill in and includes sections about birthdate and place, hair and eye colour and favourite food. There are two spaces for photos and a frame where the child can draw their own picture. My daughter has really enjoyed filling out the book and finding out more about me and her dad, e.g. where we went to school and what jobs we have had.
The grandparents’ pages also include interesting information, how old was grandma when the child’s father or mother was born, jobs that grandparents have had and the chance for them to share a memory with the child. Where possible it is a lovely activity for a child to do with a grandparent and my daughter is looking forward to asking Grandma and Grandpa questions when we next visit.
At the end of the book there is also a list of suggestions to stimulate extension activities. These include looking at maps to find out where relatives live or were born, finding out more about the year that the child was born and reading family diaries and old school reports.
I would love to see alternative versions of The My Family Tree Book to incorporate different family structures, e.g patchwork families, stepfamilies and families with single sex parents. Children can add step sisters or step brothers to the siblings page but it would also be useful to include a page for step parents.
Researching a family tree is such a fascinating subject and this is a lovely book for a child to be able to complete their own record.
Age Range: 5 +
Author: Catherine Bruzzone / Illustrator: Caroline Jayne Church
We looked through our bookshelf to find some of our favourite book families.
We were thrilled when author Lorraine Francis recommended Katie Morag and the Two Grandmothers as my daughter loves the stories about family life on a remote Scottish island.
My daughter finds the stories about life with the Large family very amusing, there’s always something going on with four young elephants in the house!
I loved Tove Jansson’s stories about the Moomin family when I was a child. It’s great that there are now picture book versions of the stories too.
Do you have a favourite book family? Can you suggest books that show alternative family structures?
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