I Promise

by Catherine Hernandez, Syrus Marcus Ware (Illustrations)

Catherine Hernandez's debut novel Scarborough was shortlisted for the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction, and the Trillium Prize, Ontario's richest literary award. Her latest, I Promise, is a beautiful tribute to the resiliency of diverse families.

Featuring tender-hearted illustrations by renowned artist Syrus Marcus Ware, I Promise captures with love and honesty the intimate moments of parenting in all their messy glory -- from dealing with a kid who doesn't want to brush their teeth to looking under the bed for monsters to cuddling after a long day. This charming picture book showcases the many shapes, sizes, and colors that families come in, emphasizing that every queer family starts with the sacred promise to love a child.

Genres: Picture Books, Family, LGBT, Childrens, Canada

32 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 2019

About the author

Catherine Hernandez (she/her) is an award-winning author and screenwriter. She is a proud queer woman who is of Filipino, Spanish, Chinese and Indian descent and married into the Navajo Nation. Her first novel, Scarborough, won the Jim Wong-Chu Award for the unpublished manuscript; was a finalist for the Toronto Book Awards, the Evergreen Forest of Reading Award, the Edmund White Award, and the Trillium Book Award; and was longlisted for Canada Reads. She has written the critically acclaimed plays Singkil, The Femme Playlist and Eating with Lola and the children’s books M Is for Mustache: A Pride ABC Book and I Promise. She recently wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of Scarborough, which is currently in post-production by Compy Films with support from Telefilm Canada and Reel Asian Film Festival. She is the creator of Audible Original’s audio sketch comedy series Imminent Disaster. Her second novel, Crosshairs, published simultaneously in Canada and the US and the UK this spring, made the CBC's Best Canadian Fiction, NOW Magazine's 10 Best Books, Indigo Best Book, Audible Best Audiobooks and NBC 20 Best LGBTQ Books list of 2020. Her third children's book, Where Do Your Feelings Live? which is a guide for kids living through these scary times, has been commissioned by HarperCollins Canada and will be published in winter 2022.

Reviews

[Nina Okens · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the sweetest celebration of family and of all the wonderful shapes and sizes and colours it comes in.

[Agnes Kowalski · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful read for my 5 and 7 year olds, not waiting for them to ask questions about where everyone comes from, instead presenting them with all the loving options.

[Troy Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

So important for books like this to celebrate our Family. Thank you! We love the authors and willhug them in person when we see them. Love is Love! We are Family!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved this book about how families and parenting feels and looks different in different families.

[Lana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A heartwarming story! I'm looking forward to sharing it with the children I nanny and babysit. 

[Rebecca Northan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love is love! This is a wonderful, inspiring, heart-filled book that will introduce young readers to the idea that there are many different types of families, and love is at the heart of them. In fact, "I Promise" wonderfully illustrates that we all have so much in common when it comes to family life, in all the ways that count: love, bed time stories, pillow forts, grilled cheese, giggles, and fun. My experience reading this book with my young nieces and nephews (ages 5, 7, 9) is that they enjoyed the illustrations, liked the story, and already knew lots of kids from different types of families at school. Buying more copies for my girlfriends with kiddos!

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful and important book!

[Ghaida Moussa]

Excited to read this book, and so happy black and poc artists are creating stories for us and our kids ❤️

[Rachel David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you for this beautiful book. Important read for all kids.

[MasterReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most important thing for a happy, healthy childhood? As far as I am concerned, that's love.

Rich or poor, black or white, queer or straight, the most important thing parents can give their children is love. Unconditional, warm and tender love, which goes with acceptance and respect for who we are and the path we choose for ourselves through life.

Catherine Hernandez' picture book "I Promise" takes a fresh and warm hearted look at the "Where do I come from question?". Nowadays conception has ceased to be merely a "birds and bees" story. Sperm donation, surrogate parents, modern medicine offers a variety of "remedies" for parents to fulfill their desperate wish for a child.

The author says about her book: "I wanted to write a picture book where the conversation about where babies come from is refocused on the promise to love a child." And that's exactly what her picture book "I promise" does and in a very beautiful way.

There are the fabulous illustrations by Syrus Marcus Ware on every page and I simply fell in love with them. The stunning artwork looks like pencil sketches with bright colour splashes applied to the background or to highlight certain areas. It breathes life into the pictures and you start to believe the characters move and will leap off the page and say "Hi!" any second now.

We see the parents caring for the bruised knee, looking for the scary monsters hiding under the bed at night, brushing hair, listening, laughing, offering cuddles.

The text which accompanies them consists of simple easy sentences, which are perfect for young kids, and they clearly bring the point accross:
All children came from a promise, the promise to love them just as they are.

Beautiful picture book about acceptance, tolerance, respect for others, and most of all, love.
5 stars.

[Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Writing a children's book is a delicate craft, particularly for very little ones, and this book shines in so many ways. Catherine Hernandez's story of a conversation between parent and child reads like a tender and playful lullaby. "I Promise" offers a series of warm and authentic portraits of LGBTQ2S families with beautiful illustrations by Syrus Marcus Ware. When I think of having children of my own one day, I see this book on their shelves.

[Jami · Rating 5 out of 5]

tearjerker. how familial relationships with children are created. with a promise.

[Kesta Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book. Both my kids enjoyed it and it prompted some great conversation. A great way to affirm to all that no matter the family composition, love is love!

[Aviva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Relevant and important read for kiddos book shelves. Should be in schools, drop-ins and literary centres.

[Roberta Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is important for families to read to their little ones no matter what age. It is a story of acceptance for all families.

[Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet picture book celebrating diverse families and that love is a promise to every child.

[Nadia L. Hohn · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a beautiful, endearing, and poetic book. The language and the individual promises are universal and reflect on the commitment all parents make to their children whether implied or explicit. The illustrations show a diversity of families.

[Abby Johnson]

The sweet message of this book is that families come in all different shapes and sizes and that the love between family members is much more important than the specific biology of a family. This would make wonderful, affirming bedtime reading for when parents want to share a message of love that leaves no doubt.

[Ben Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

I Promise is a children's picture book written by Catherine Hernandez and illustrated by Syrus Marcus Ware. It is a wonderful ode to queer families, told through the sweet dialogue between a curious child and their loving parent.

This book serves as an entry (A children's book by an LGBTQ2S+ author) in the Toronto Public Library Reading Challenge 2021. A simple Google search had me found this children’s picture book rather quickly about families and all the shapes and sizes they come in.

Hernandez's text is rather simplistic and straightforward. With little exposition but plenty of reverence, the parent validates the family bonds that exist among their kid's community, including families with same-gender parents, families with multiple co-parents, and single-parent families. Ware depicts the utter normalcy of queer families through homespun illustrations that look like sketches featuring hints of detail and only pops of color.

The premise of the book is rather straightforward. Like many children, the dark-haired protagonist has a lot of questions for their parent. Recalling peers and their various family structures, the unnamed kid begins by asking. The parent diligently answers their child’s queries while guiding the young one through a nighttime routine: eating, brushing teeth, pulling on pajamas, and tucking in for the evening.

All in all, I Promise is a wonderful book celebrating families and normalizing view of often stigmatized families, tenderly told.

[FM Family · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wanted to like this as it is Canadian and very intentional about showing diverse families. But my kid didn't like the illustration style and I think there wasn't enough story to keep her attention. Something I might return to if I start getting questions from her about why our family is different from others. I liked the way it didn't get into the details of how different families were made and rather focussed on the love underpinning all of them, but at the same time that would make it confusing for anyone wanting to address adoption, alternative insemination, etc. I think we'll return to it when she's a bit bigger, 3 isn't really the target audience for this vibe.

[Care]

A sweet celebration of family and the love and protections that all kinds of families give us. Illustrations done by an artist who is active in the BLM Toronto community and they honour all kinds of people and relationships. Nice poetic writing.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ages 4 and up. A child asks about the different families she knows and where the children came from. The answer is a list of affirmations of the rights of every child ("to sleep in a comfy bed, to hear one extra story before going to sleep") with sweet illustrations of culturally, racially and gender diverse families. Though adoption and foster care are not explicitly mentioned, they are implied and this book can serve as a generator for conversations about them.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a solid read, filled with good reasons as to why differently structured families have children.

[Monique · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally a book explaining family life m all aspects. Most importantly a family starts with a promise to love and train up a child.

[Hazel Mcnamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is beautiful and important. It shows family’s of different backgrounds and different types of family structures. It is important for all children’s family’s to be represented and for children to know that the bottom line is that your family or caregivers love you. It also shows that love is shown in different ways for different people which really isn’t shown enough. Family is a promise of care and love no matter what. Great book, the language is maybe a bit more advanced for say 2nd graders but I think it should be read non the less

[Cheriee Weichel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me happy. A young girl asks her mother where her different friends come from. Her mother responds that each one comes from a promise. Sometimes it’s a promise that every child deserves a safe home. Sometimes it’s a promise to share and take turns because different people are good at different kinds of things.
While this book might be a celebration of queer families, these promises resonate for all of us.

[Barbra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This picture book can be shared and discussed with young readers about how children from gay families have different parents but are just as loved and cared for. Not sure what age little minds would start asking about this. I would think this would be more relevant once they start school.