My 2 year old loves the book as well, and there is so much that he can relate to (he also loves “helping” his grandmother cook in the kitchen, he likes to feed his grandparents’ fish, and he also is a big fan of many of the foods in the book, like macaroni and cheese). After receiving the book and doing a quick read-through, I was amazed that it had flown under my radar for so long. It is a sweet story featuring a Black family, in which a little boy and his grandmother prepare and enjoy a Sunday dinner with family. I came across this book, Full, Full, Full of Love, by Trish Cooke, in a blog post about diverse picture books from Happily Ever Elephants, and ordered it along with some others from her list. Especially given the fact that he is socially isolated due to the coronavirus outbreak, I think it is more important than ever to explicitly teach him about people that look different than he does, through picture books and stories that accurately represent different cultures. I considered how this might already be teaching my son about what is normal and of value in our family, and decided we’re going to nip that in the bud right now.

Most of our children’s books at home feature animals as characters rather than people, but in the books with people, most are white, male, and part of a family with a mom and a dad.

Last month, I took an inventory of my 2 year old’s books and found that they were seriously lacking in diverse characters. Comprehension Strategies: Making Connections, Character Analysis, Making Inferences.Themes: Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Families, Traditions.Full, Full, Full of Love, by Trish Cooke, illustrated by Paul Howard

Full, Full, Full of Love by Trish Cooke