Book guide: My family
Who can be family to each other?
A family, what could it be? Mom, dad and a child? Grandma maybe and a cat? Or father and three children? Multiple mothers. Yes, what exactly is a family?
My family is a book where the child's perspective guides and tells about different families.
Questions about family
The book begins with Gabriella wondering what a family is. Have you thought about what a family is? Gabriella thinks that a family is people who "belong together". What does it mean?
How does your family look? How many parents are there in your family? How many children are there in your family? Where does your family live? In one or more houses?
The backgrounds of each picture give clues about how the child lives with his family. Look at the backgrounds and talk about what they might mean. What do you think the backgrounds are trying to say about the child's family?
Leo's family includes mother, grandmother, big Teddy and old Teddy. What is good about having a parent? Do you or someone you know have a parent? In Leo's family there is one child, Leo. What is good about being a child?
In Elliot's family there are many adults and many children. Are there several children in your family? What is the good thing about having several children?
Questions about animals and stuffed animals
In the book, some children tell about pets such as dogs, cats, rabbits and a parrot in their families. Do you have a pet or do you know someone who has a pet? If you had to choose for yourself, which animal would you most like to take care of? What is the best thing about having a pet? What's not so great about having a pet?
In the book there are also stuffed animals such as Tiger, big Teddy and old Teddy. Do you have any stuffed animals? Does it have a name? What is good about a stuffed animal?
About Sami people
The Sami are Sweden's indigenous people. In the book My Family, Antari's family is Sami, which we can hear from the names of the family and the animals. The Sami live in Samiland, which is in the northern parts of Sweden, but also in Norway, Finland and Russia. It is not entirely certain how many are Sami here, but about 70,000 of the approximately 2 million people who live in the area. Between 20,000 and 4,000 Sami live in Sweden. The Sami Parliament in Sweden is an authority that is supposed to promote and monitor issues related to Sami culture. Sami is one of Sweden's five minority peoples. Reindeer herding is part of the Sami culture and the reindeer are out in nature all year round, about 10% of the Sami engage in reindeer herding.
About family
The family is our first belonging and having it positively and obviously reflected is therefore important for our self-esteem and self-image. By having all different family forms represented on a bookshelf, the family forms we have around us in society today are equated in an obvious way. In this book, the families look all sorts of ways, just like in real life. Single parents, same-sex couples, cohabitants and cohabitants, nuclear families and bonus families. Families with different skin colors and backgrounds. In the preschool, it is important to reflect all different families and not just the families that are in the child group. In this way, norms are broadened and the diversity of families that exist in society becomes a matter of course.
