Long long before the Butterflies & Aliens Library, going back to the very beginning, Stacey and I have joyfully adventured in the book world, and we have met and worked and played with some of the coolest of book people along the way. Establishing this virtual library was intended not only to give us a place to play, but a space for all of our book friends too.

So in honour of Family Day, celebrated on the third Monday of February here in our corner of the “real” world, we thought it a fitting opportunity to introduce you to our friend Raina Schnider, and give a shout out to her book My Canadian Family.

In My Canadian Family, we meet our ‘host’ Andy, who begins the story by telling us “I live in Canada. That means I’m Canadian.” He then proceeds to share with us all the different wonderful things that make his particular Canadian family unique.

Even more wonderfully and importantly, however, Andy pauses every few pages and asks us, the reader, about our family and what makes it unique as well. Where do you live? What language does you family speak? Who are the special people in your life? And with every question comes a space for you to fill in your answers (so if you happen to have multiple small humans in your world, you may want to get them each their own copy of the book to fill out!).

Andy’s descriptions and questions also beautifully include and acknowledge just how diverse families can look, asking questions like “Do you have more than one mom or dad?” and “Do you have more than one home?” with simple Andy curiosity and not a hint of judgement.

Complemented by beautiful full-page illustrations by Alex Terakita (go just to check out Alex’s *stunning* cover designs for the Lord of the Rings), My Canadian Family lets every reader see themselves and their family celebrated on the page. They get to share their story with Andy even as Andy shares his with them. And it is a delight. Because #RepresentationMatters.

Re-reading it as I prepared this post, I was also struck by one illustration in particular, writing this as I am in the midst of an ongoing pandemic… a picture of Andy video-calling his grandparents on a computer screen. It was an all-the-more poignant reminder to me of how family connections can span time and distance.

For information on how you can get your own copy (or copies), hop on over to Raina’s website.

Happy reading!

– Winston