When my daughter was six months old, I knew she was going to be smart!  I started reading to her every night, at least three books a night. We enjoyed the traditional Dr. Suess books, Left Foot Right Foot was one of her favorites. She loved drumming on the drums with the monkeys in the book. At nine months I would take her fingers and drum, drum, drum.  We enjoyed many others. Being in a non-traditional family I searched for non-traditional family books, any book that referenced a family unit as anything other than a mom and dad.  Todd Parr has a great series of books on acceptance and different families.  These quickly became our favorites. The bear story with the mom and the baby bear, My two Mommies, and Emma and My boy Mesha were often read each night. 

What I missed was a book that referenced what my daughter's family looks like, which is nearly impossible. She has two moms, a Momma Uno and a Momma Dos.  To add to the complexity of her "different family', when she was adopted her moms were a couple and now are no longer together. Her grandparents were a couple and now are no longer together. And her Aunt is now sadly going through a divorce. 

So her family is definitely UNIQUE. Her two moms now have other partners, who both love and are part of her life. One grandmother Sassy has since remarried and now she Billy Joe in her life. Her grandfather Papa is now engaged and she has Joanne in her life.  She has a great grandmother named Nanoo, an Aunt nicknamed Annie and lots of other family and friends that love her. My daughter is also hispanic in origin, different than her adoptive family.

So... what would a book that fits my daughter's family look like? How could all of these unique family members fit into the story? How could that same book be used by other families? And what story should it tell? Could the messages also help her with feelings and emotions instead of just being entertaining? I quickly decided that one book can't do it all. this will take a series of books. the result... books that focus on emotions while allowing the caregiver to be defined by the reader, the characters in the story can be colored to look like the family and the child can be made to look like the child listening to the story.