Molly's Family

Garden, Nancy, & Illustrated by Wooding, Sharon. (2004). Molly's Family. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.

Molly’s Family, written by Nancy Garden is a picture book about a young girl growing up in a family that is different from others. It is open school night in Molly’s kindergarten class and to get prepared for it the students suggest ways to make the room look special for their families. Molly’s suggestion is to draw pictures of their families and the class immediately gets to work. After Molly finishes the drawing of her Mommy, Mama Lu, and her dog Sam, Molly begins to get questioned by a fellow classmate. He tells her she can’t have two mothers. Molly’s teacher, Ms. Marston steps in and tells Molly that it is perfectly fine for her to have this kind of family. When she goes home that day, her mothers can see she is very upset and talk to her about what happened. Mama Lu tells her that there are many different kinds of families. The next day she is still upset and leaves her drawing at home. After looking at her classmates’ pictures she sees that each classmate has a different family. She remembers what her mother said, and the following day brings her drawing to school. She proudly decides to hang her picture on the wall next to the others.

The illustrations included in Molly’s Family are brightly colored which allows the children to stay focused and interested in the book. The illustrations of characters also offer an accurate portrayal of GLBT members. Children can also see themselves in the illustrations of the students in Molly’s class. The text on each page is made up of words that children at a beginning level of reading can read and understand. The text also includes dialogue between characters which keeps children interested if being read to by an adult or teacher. The illustrations and text work together to help the reader understand the message of the book and do not contradict each other.

The issue of homosexuality is portrayed through Molly’s parents and is an accurate portrayal of GLBT issues. Many students can relate to this book, because like Molly, they may grow up in a family with gay or lesbian parents. Children that are outsiders to the group can also relate to this book because they may be part of a family that represents one of the other family structures mentioned in this book. Nancy Garden does this in an accurate way. The message in this book is that although families may not look identical to one another, all the family members love each other, and this is all that matters. Other diverse issues mentioned in this book are questioning ones family, adoption, and teasing in schools.

The author of Molly’s Family is an insider to the GLBT group. In the about the author section in the back of the book this is explained, therefore, readers know her views are accurate.

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