Roots Of Love by Sarah Asuquo
Mar. 15th, 2026 05:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Tia has had the best day ever, until her parents tell her that they are separating. To top it off, she has to present a project at school all about her family. With the help of her school friends, can Tia learn that there are many types of family, and that each one can be full of love and happiness.
Tia has had a fantastic day at school and is busy doing her homework when her parents ask her to come downstairs because they have something to tell her: they are separating and her dad is going to live elsewhere. She is very upset, not least because she doesn’t know if her friends in her class will think her family is strange if her parents don’t live together. But as her classmates give presentations on their family, she begins to realise that there are many types of families in the world and maybe hers isn’t so strange after all …
Sarah Asquo’s sensitive picture book about different kinds of families and how to deal with the separation of your parents is well written and beautifully illustrated by Ruthine Burton, who does a great job of showing a multicultural, multi-ability mix of children and parents. It’s a perfect book to give to any young reader who’s concerned that their family isn’t ‘normal’ and a great reminder that families come in all shapes and sizes.
This is one of those picture books that does a really good job of helping young readers to come to terms with a very difficult subject and gives them reassurance that families are not uniform and what’s important is the love they take. Tia is a very relatable character, who has realised that there is something wrong with her parents but has not understood the ramifications until they tell her. Asuquo deserves a lot of credit for how she breaks this all down and writes it in a way that is relatable without being preachy.
Equally good are Burton’s illustrations. I cannot stress how much I love the way she shows Tia’s character and also depicts her classmates and her parents and the way she has made Tia’s appearance a mix of her parents is such a great work of skill that it really merits real praise. The representation here is great, different ethnic and racial backgrounds are shown together with different disabilities and the little details in each of the images.
The whole thing combines into a really strong picture book that does everything a good picture book should do and more. If you have a young reader who you want to explain separation and divorce to or who you want to discuss other family structures, then this is the perfect picture book to use because you can use it as a springboard to talk about it.
The Verdict:
Sarah Asquo’s sensitive picture book about different kinds of families and how to deal with the separation of your parents is well written and beautifully illustrated by Ruthine Burton, who does a great job of showing a multicultural, multi-ability mix of children and parents. It’s a perfect book to give to any young reader who’s concerned that their family isn’t ‘normal’ and a great reminder that families come in all shapes and sizes.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
Tia has had the best day ever, until her parents tell her that they are separating. To top it off, she has to present a project at school all about her family. With the help of her school friends, can Tia learn that there are many types of family, and that each one can be full of love and happiness.
Tia has had a fantastic day at school and is busy doing her homework when her parents ask her to come downstairs because they have something to tell her: they are separating and her dad is going to live elsewhere. She is very upset, not least because she doesn’t know if her friends in her class will think her family is strange if her parents don’t live together. But as her classmates give presentations on their family, she begins to realise that there are many types of families in the world and maybe hers isn’t so strange after all …
Sarah Asquo’s sensitive picture book about different kinds of families and how to deal with the separation of your parents is well written and beautifully illustrated by Ruthine Burton, who does a great job of showing a multicultural, multi-ability mix of children and parents. It’s a perfect book to give to any young reader who’s concerned that their family isn’t ‘normal’ and a great reminder that families come in all shapes and sizes.
This is one of those picture books that does a really good job of helping young readers to come to terms with a very difficult subject and gives them reassurance that families are not uniform and what’s important is the love they take. Tia is a very relatable character, who has realised that there is something wrong with her parents but has not understood the ramifications until they tell her. Asuquo deserves a lot of credit for how she breaks this all down and writes it in a way that is relatable without being preachy.
Equally good are Burton’s illustrations. I cannot stress how much I love the way she shows Tia’s character and also depicts her classmates and her parents and the way she has made Tia’s appearance a mix of her parents is such a great work of skill that it really merits real praise. The representation here is great, different ethnic and racial backgrounds are shown together with different disabilities and the little details in each of the images.
The whole thing combines into a really strong picture book that does everything a good picture book should do and more. If you have a young reader who you want to explain separation and divorce to or who you want to discuss other family structures, then this is the perfect picture book to use because you can use it as a springboard to talk about it.
The Verdict:
Sarah Asquo’s sensitive picture book about different kinds of families and how to deal with the separation of your parents is well written and beautifully illustrated by Ruthine Burton, who does a great job of showing a multicultural, multi-ability mix of children and parents. It’s a perfect book to give to any young reader who’s concerned that their family isn’t ‘normal’ and a great reminder that families come in all shapes and sizes.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
