Today, for Multicultural Children’s Book Day, I have the pleasure to review a soon-to-be-released picture book that celebrates family and mestizo heritage.
New to Multicultural Children’s Book Day? Learn more about this special day at the end of this post.
Title: 21 Cousins
Written By: Diane de Anda
Illustrated By: Isabel Muñoz
Publisher/Date: Star Bright Books/1 April 2021
Suitable for Ages: 4-8
Themes/Topics: family, cousins, Latin Americans, mestizo heritage
Opening:
This is our family photo album, filled with the faces of grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, and 21 cousins. Our mom and dad each have a brother and two sisters, and they have children too. This makes us all cousins.
Brief Synopsis: Two cousins in a large Latinx family describe their many cousins, as the family gathers to celebrate a special event.
Links to Resources:
- Plan a visit, or a virtual visit, with one or more extended family members;
- Create a family tree to help learn about your family history;
- Do you have cousins (or close family friends that you call cousins)? How is each cousin the same as or different than you? What makes each cousin special?
Why I Like this Book:
21 Cousins is a celebratory exploration of family and mestizo heritage. Readers meet each cousin in this loving family in turn, making it a perfect book to explore how we are the same and different. I love that physical attributes, skills, and passions are highlighted – I think readers may find someone who is just like them (or like one of their own family members).
Spanish terms are sprinkled throughout and are either defined in the text or clear from the illustrations. As de Ande explains in the first spread, this is a mestizo family, meaning “that we share a mixture of the different people and cultures in Mexico: Indian, Spanish, French, and others. This is the reason people in our family look different in many ways. But we are still one family, our familia.”
Muñoz’s bright illustrations bring each cousin to life. I love how the details she provides to each vignette-like spread capture each cousin in turn. Along with de Ande’s descriptive text, these detailed illustrations invite readers to pause and explore each cousin’s world more fully. I think this makes 21 Cousins a wonderful read-aloud for classrooms and families as readers and listeners can discuss how they know from the surrounding items the passions and skills of each cousin.
Whether you’re from a large mestizo family looking to read about a family like your own, or whether you want to introduce your kids to a large, loving family with members of different physical attributes, including skin tone, and interests, I think you’ll enjoy 21 Cousins.
A Note about Craft:
Diane de Anda introduces readers to the 21 cousins one by one, focusing on aspects that make each person unique and special, and also on how they are the same. By including such a large number of cousins, de Anda is able to showcase many different activities enjoyed by kids, kids in different age groups, and different physical attributes. By including a child with Down Syndrome and one in a wheelchair, I think she expands the focus and celebratory message of 21 Cousins by showing how differently-abled relatives bring joy to and experience happiness within families.
21 Cousins will be available in Spanish as 21 primos.
Star Bright Books is “an independent publishing company dedicated to producing the highest quality books for children.” In business since 1994, this Massachusetts publisher endeavors “to include children of all colors, nationalities, and abilities” in its books, which are published in 29 languages.
From the publisher:
Diane de Anda is a professor emerita of social welfare at UCLA and a community voice on violence prevention and stress management among adolescents. She has written eight children’s books and edited four books on multicultural social work. Her work focuses on empowering Latino youth. Diane lives in Playa del Rey, California. 21 Cousins is her first book with Star Bright Books. https://deandabookshop.com/
Isabel Muñoz is a lifelong artist and children’s book illustrator. She studied fine arts at the Complutense University in Madrid, Spain. Isabel loves to dwell on the details of children’s stories that cannot be seen with the naked eye. She lives in Spain. 21 Cousins is her first book with Star Bright Books. https://thebrightagency.com/us/publishing/artists/isabel-munoz
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.
This Perfect Picture Book entry is being added to Susanna Hill’s Perfect Picture Book list. Check out the other great picture books featured there!
Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2021 (1/29/21) is in its 8th year! This non-profit children’s literacy initiative was founded by Valarie Budayr and Mia Wenjen; two diverse book-loving moms who saw a need to shine the spotlight on all of the multicultural books and authors on the market while also working to get those book into the hands of young readers and educators.
Eight years in, MCBD’s mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in homes and school bookshelves continues. Read about our Mission & History HERE.
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Wander, Ponder, Write 
This book is of interest to me as I have zero cousins and have often wondered what it would be like to have as few as one. I love the suggestion to discuss how readers and listeners know from the surrounding items the passions and skills of each cousin. We can learn so much about what others value by paying attention to details as small as a jar of seashells on a windowsill, a basket that brims with seasonal books, or a generous spice cabinet. I’m looking forward to reading the book you shared today.
So happy you liked it! I had very few cousins, too, and all of them were much older & lived far away. Sadly, my kids have few cousins, too. Like you, I loved meeting many cousins in a large, extended family.
Great review, Patricia! I have 63 first cousins, so 21 is a good start, here, LOL.
How lucky you are! Our family is much, much smaller!
Thank you so much for sharing this great review of 21 Cousins with Multicultural Children’s Book Day and for your support of our holiday. I hope that you can come to our Twitter Party tonight at 9 pm EST. We are giving away hundreds of diverse children’s books!
Thank you for a great review of this charming story. Will certainly look out for it when it debuts. I have a few cousins which I rarely see. .
I’m the same as you. I met one of them only once, ages ago when I was a kid!
What an engaging story. So few families really connect in this manner, largely because we live all of the country/world. Look forward to reading this special book. I was lucky and knew all of my cousins, although as we grew older we were less in touch. I love your activities.
You’re lucky to have had, and known, many cousins. It’s something I and my kids never had. So reading 21 Cousins was eye-opening & fun for me.
Cousins are the best! 21 cousins sounds like a wonderful crowd of family and love and fun. Thanks for sharing.
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