Featured in the RNE Magazine, 2023 Volume 2
By Amy Rothschild
As an early childhood educator, I’ve always been on the lookout for books presenting accurate, age-appropriate information about what makes a family.
The search became personal several years ago when I learned that pregnancy would be an unacceptable risk for me on account of my medical history. My interest intensified as my husband and I began to work with a fertility clinic and surrogacy agency.
We were fortunate to move forward, but with no baby bump to announce my growing family, I needed a way to tell my students about my upcoming parental leave. I found one issue-specific book intended for a child whose parent was a gestational carrier, and this only got me so far.
I ended up making a book for my students using Powerpoint and colored pencils.
Dan Saks, a musician, music educator, and host of the children’s podcast Noodle Loaf, has staked his career on creating children’s art that is both joyful and loving, conveying messages of inclusion.
A few years ago, a publisher reached out to Saks to see if he might adapt a song from his podcast, “Families Belong”, into a book for young children. From this conversation a set of three board books, Families Belong, Families Can, andFamilies Grow (Rise x Penguin Workshop, 2021) was born.
The series, written by Saks and illustrated by Brooke Smart, hit shelves in 2021 to warm reviews. Programs with national reach like Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and Kellogg’s Feeding Reading program have selected titles for distribution.
I stumbled across a copy of Families Can when my son was a toddler pulling books from the shelves at the public library. Saks’ board books became favorites at home and in my classroom. Though Families Grow hadn’t been around when I gathered my students on the rug to share my news, my co-teacher did read it aloud to share news of her pregnancy in 2021.
Families Grow presents the facts in simple rhyming text, starting with the idea that for a family to grow, there must be a “wish.”