In my search to find books about large families, I ran into several
recommendation of the "Large Family" books by Jill Murphy. An
import from the United Kingdom, these books have been out of print
for some time in the U.S., so I began my quest to find them. I
figured I would start with one, titled All in One Piece. After
a bit of looking, I located a copy in a used book store in England.
Paying a premium for the book and shipping, ultimately it
cost more than four times the cover price of 4.99 (that's in
pounds--not sure what it translates to in American dollars). I wish
I could say it was worth the money. My only consolation is that
perhaps this will save the readers of this review from making a
similar mistake.
The Large Family series is about a family of elephants. Their name
is a play on words, as they also have 4 children. The books are
rather short, but still written for a kindergarten-age audience. All in One Piece follows Mr. and Mrs. Large as they ready for a
dinner out on the town. Of course, with four children under foot,
it proves difficult getting ready and staying clean. After many
obstacles, they finally manage to pull it off, leaving the house
looking spiffy, or so they think. Unbeknowest to mom, she has
paint on her, but is blistfully unaware as her and her husband
disappear into the night. A cute and simple premise, and one that
I could totally relate to as a mom of 6. I was looking forward to
a charming and, perhaps, bitter-sweet story. It was neither.
The thing that struck me the most about this book was the cruelty
of the dialogue. The opening scenes show mother taking care of her chidren. However, when they
are getting ready for their night out, that changes. As father
shaves, one of the boys sneaks into the bathroom and innocently
asks "will I have to shave when I grow up?", to which the father
answers by screaming and ordering the boy out of the bathroom
because he doesn't want his clothes ruined. There are more
situations like this, culminating in the final scene when the
children want a hug from their parents before they go out for the
night and the parents tell the kids not to touch them because they
don't want to get dirty. As the baby cries because she wants
mommy, Granny (the babysitter) tells the parents to go without
that hug, assuring them the baby will stop crying after they are
gone.
The depictions of the children are troublesome too.
Though they seem to get into the normal mischief young children do,
it is shown in a very naughty light, and in a manner that is more stereotypical in nature. The misconception that the homes of large families are nothing but chaos is perpetuated time and time again in this book. Truth is, while things do get out of hand in a large household...in any household for that matter...these depictions are overdramatized. I am sure the parents of large families have encountered similar
situations as the ones in this book. And, I'm sure most have
yelled in frustration just as the characters did. I do not fault
the idea of the story--parents struggling to get out of the house
in one piece. What upset me is that there are so few positive images.
Sure, it's frustrating when you see your youngest with your new
lipstick all over her face. Yet, after you scowl, you can't help
but smile at that cute baby simply being a baby. The children are
shown as simply being bad, with no consideration that kids get into
mischief and we love them nonetheless. I truly expected the parents to show their frustration, and perhaps
really lose their temper, but then soften at the end for the hugs
and kisses ending. That never came.
Earlier in the book, there is a scene where an exasperated mother screams, "Can't I have
just one night in the whole year to myself? One night where I am
not covered in jam and poster-paint?" As a parent of lots of kids, I can whole-heartedly sympathize with the frustration the mother is feeling, wanting and needing that special time. However, if you look at the parent's attitudes in the book, devoid of any positive
guidance and reassurance, it's no wonder the kids behave so badly.
I guess the main thing that upset me was the fact that a child's
book could disturb me so much. From the raves other people had given
this series, and this particular book, I was afraid I was being too
hard on it. So I loaned the book to several
others, some with large families, others with smaller families, and even a few with no children at all. Everyone had a similar feeling. They were shocked at the mean-spiritedness of the dialogue. I then had to wonder, why were people bragging about these books? Was it simply because there are so few book featuring large families that they were willing to be overly forgiving of poor dialogue and content? Were they willing to settle for less just for the fact that they could show their children a large family in print?
As I mentioned earlier, this book is out of print, but I've learned that some libraries still carry it, and it is available from used book sellers. If you are looking for books to encourage your family and others in the idea of having lots of children, this is not the book to do so. In fact, I would would avoid it all-together. There are enough negative depictions of large families out there...and frankly many are better written than this one.
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