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21 Cousins
Tall, short, big, small, athletic, artistic . . . cousins may look different and have different interests and abilities, but that just makes them one extraordinary family! From Maricela's bilingual spelling skills to Mario's tech whiz abilities, no two cousins are alike--and that's just the way they like it. All the cousins are muy entusiasmados for the surprise at the end of their family gathering! Diane de Anda cleverly highlights the beautiful diversity of Latino and mestizo families as readers are introduced to each cousin. Isabel Mu�oz's whimsical illustrations are filled with rich details, delivering a cornucopia of color for young readers. Featuring a mix of skin tones, personalities, and abilities, 21 Cousins is a delightful read that invites children to appreciate the rich heritage of Latino culture.
32 pages, Paperback
Published July 30, 2021
About the author
Diane De Anda
33 books3 followersDiane De Anda, PhD, UCLA professor emerita, has edited four books on ethnically diverse populations and published numerous scholarly articles. She has also published shoirt stories, essays, satires, poetry, and a collection of flash fiction. She has published children's poetry, eight children's books, which have won multiple awards, and has six children's books scheduled for publication. Her bicultural background, as a third-generation Latina, is often evident in her work.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 8, 2022
An everybody book that addresses diversity within a family, in this case a Latinx family. I would not recommend a family tree lesson following reading this or even a writing prompt about cousins as not all children are so privileged to have many or any cousins. However, the book leads to a writing prompt about identity. Students can draw themselves and write about what they look like, enjoy doing, and what they've accomplished or hope to accomplish.
October 28, 2021
As many other reviewers have described feeling, I too was disappointed in this book. The premise had a lot of promise, introducing the 21 cousins of a large Latino family and describing them, but the execution was sorely lacking. The most glaring problems were the book's fatphobia and ableism. Cousin Gonzalo is fat, but instead of simply stating this fact and then sharing something cool about him, something he's good at, or something he's interested in (as is the pattern in the rest of the cousin profiles), de Anda instead chooses to use one of the 4 sentences devoted to him to say "He has lost a lot of weight from exercise and a special diet from his doctor so he won't get a sickness called diabetes," a statement both fatphobic and simply misleading, since being fat does not mean you will necessarily get diabetes (https://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-ris...).
Similarly, in the profile of Beto, who has Down syndrome, his having Down syndrome and going to a special class in school is all that is shared about Beto individually. Beyond that, we are just told that "Sometimes he needs our help to do things" and then given a list of things that "we" enjoy doing—nothing about what Beto himself likes doing.
My overarching question for this book was why each cousin wasn't allowed to speak for themselves. Instead, two cousins at the end use the first person and speak for themselves, but all the others are described in third person by these cousins. It just seems strange! Also strange is the fact that none of the cousins identify as queer. Generally quite disappointed with this read.
Similarly, in the profile of Beto, who has Down syndrome, his having Down syndrome and going to a special class in school is all that is shared about Beto individually. Beyond that, we are just told that "Sometimes he needs our help to do things" and then given a list of things that "we" enjoy doing—nothing about what Beto himself likes doing.
My overarching question for this book was why each cousin wasn't allowed to speak for themselves. Instead, two cousins at the end use the first person and speak for themselves, but all the others are described in third person by these cousins. It just seems strange! Also strange is the fact that none of the cousins identify as queer. Generally quite disappointed with this read.
April 7, 2021
I was disappointed by this book. It lacks a real story and the descriptions of the cousins are sometimes painful to read. It hurts to write this review. I have more first cousins than I can count and I really wanted to love this book.
June 3, 2021
No narrative arc and some cringe-worthy and simplistic descriptions of several cousins' physiques (including weight and Down Syndrome).
June 23, 2021
A huge family can means a large variety of relatives and having 21 cousins promises something unique with every single one.
Maricela's family is Latino, but the 21 cousins are anything but alike. Each one has a different appearance, talents and interests which make them very unique and special.
I found this one interesting, not only because it promotes the wonderful aspect of family but reminds me of my own larger one, since we hit about that same number for several generations now. I do enjoy how the author presents each one, illustrating their differences and how they are seen. It's fun that each one has a nickname, fitting to one of their attributes. The illustrations depict them all in positive lights and show how neat it is to have such a variety in the family. And none is better or worse than any other.
The first page holds quite a bit of text, which made me wonder, but this quickly changes for the rest of the book. Each cousin is presented in a few, short sentences, which will be simple for the intended age group to understand. While the huge variety of attributes and differences is visible in each illustration, I was surprised that the author seems to concentrate on hair...but then, the intended audience will also tend to center in on simple yet visible differences in their own family, when describing them. While each one is shown with a difference appearance (to show how such things don't matter), the interests of each one is also widely varied, but interestingly enough, often concentrates on sports. Also, I was surprised at how the 'over-weight' cousin was presented.
In general, this is a lovely book, which fulfills its purpose well and shows that just because people are related, doesn't mean they are very similar. Varity is golden, and not only in these pages.
I received a complimentary copy and enjoyed reading through this one.
Maricela's family is Latino, but the 21 cousins are anything but alike. Each one has a different appearance, talents and interests which make them very unique and special.
I found this one interesting, not only because it promotes the wonderful aspect of family but reminds me of my own larger one, since we hit about that same number for several generations now. I do enjoy how the author presents each one, illustrating their differences and how they are seen. It's fun that each one has a nickname, fitting to one of their attributes. The illustrations depict them all in positive lights and show how neat it is to have such a variety in the family. And none is better or worse than any other.
The first page holds quite a bit of text, which made me wonder, but this quickly changes for the rest of the book. Each cousin is presented in a few, short sentences, which will be simple for the intended age group to understand. While the huge variety of attributes and differences is visible in each illustration, I was surprised that the author seems to concentrate on hair...but then, the intended audience will also tend to center in on simple yet visible differences in their own family, when describing them. While each one is shown with a difference appearance (to show how such things don't matter), the interests of each one is also widely varied, but interestingly enough, often concentrates on sports. Also, I was surprised at how the 'over-weight' cousin was presented.
In general, this is a lovely book, which fulfills its purpose well and shows that just because people are related, doesn't mean they are very similar. Varity is golden, and not only in these pages.
I received a complimentary copy and enjoyed reading through this one.
August 31, 2021
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of 21 Cousins. I requested this book we are a bilingual Spanish/English family, and because it’s about family!
As others have said, there are some hits and some misses.
Hits:
- the language!
-the cousins are all physically diverse: tall, short, light skin, dark skin, straight hair, curly hair, a cousin using a wheelchair and a cousin with Down’s Syndrome.
- all the sports!
-the portrayal of family supporting family!
-the inclusion of the word mestizo
- I LOVED the conclusion.
Misses:
-I felt that it was fine to mention that the cousin with Down’s Syndrome, Beto, needed extra help, but more should’ve been written about him
-and a missed opportunity to talk about emotional characteristics and values instead of sports and accomplishments.
Overall, I would buy this book for my child, and I would probably add in other things about Beto. I don’t see anything wrong with explaining that a child with special needs might require extra help and go to a special class; this is often true for special needs children and it needs to be talked about if we’d Eder like the bullying around it to go away.. but I do wish Beto had additional traits.
As others have said, there are some hits and some misses.
Hits:
- the language!
-the cousins are all physically diverse: tall, short, light skin, dark skin, straight hair, curly hair, a cousin using a wheelchair and a cousin with Down’s Syndrome.
- all the sports!
-the portrayal of family supporting family!
-the inclusion of the word mestizo
- I LOVED the conclusion.
Misses:
-I felt that it was fine to mention that the cousin with Down’s Syndrome, Beto, needed extra help, but more should’ve been written about him
-and a missed opportunity to talk about emotional characteristics and values instead of sports and accomplishments.
Overall, I would buy this book for my child, and I would probably add in other things about Beto. I don’t see anything wrong with explaining that a child with special needs might require extra help and go to a special class; this is often true for special needs children and it needs to be talked about if we’d Eder like the bullying around it to go away.. but I do wish Beto had additional traits.
February 11, 2021
I like the premise of this book - that we are all the same and we are all different. It has good illustrations and tries to reflect all members of the community.
There were a couple of pages that made me feel uncomfortable. As a parent of a child with an eating disorder - the page where if focuses on the cousin's weight loss was uncomfortable to me. I feel like it would have been better to show a picture showing his weight but not have this as the feature that defined him. Similarly with the children with disabilities - the defining feature of the child with downs syndrome was that he attended a special class. The way that Maricela was depicted in a wheelchair but not as her defining feature was much better I felt.
Aside from this it was a nice book to talk about how we are the same and different - I think I would just skip those 2 pages when reading.
There were a couple of pages that made me feel uncomfortable. As a parent of a child with an eating disorder - the page where if focuses on the cousin's weight loss was uncomfortable to me. I feel like it would have been better to show a picture showing his weight but not have this as the feature that defined him. Similarly with the children with disabilities - the defining feature of the child with downs syndrome was that he attended a special class. The way that Maricela was depicted in a wheelchair but not as her defining feature was much better I felt.
Aside from this it was a nice book to talk about how we are the same and different - I think I would just skip those 2 pages when reading.
November 8, 2023
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and as an educator I think that would be a great addition to any classroom specifically from kindergarten through second grade. This book takes us through celebrating Latinx heritage and eliminates any stereotypes of one culture means everyone is the same. This book celebrates many themes of individuality, uniqueness, family, self love. I think that the best part of this book is that it would make students of Latinx heritage feel represented and make all the students as a whole understand that we all have something that makes us unique. Great book!
February 5, 2022
The only story to this book appears on the last page, when we learn that the cousins are all gathered to celebrate the birth of a new cousin. Before that, it's a short description of each cousin based on their appearance and their likes.
This is a big family and the cousins have different skin colors and hair colors/types. They speak English and Spanish (and both). They range from babies to college kids.
This is a big family and the cousins have different skin colors and hair colors/types. They speak English and Spanish (and both). They range from babies to college kids.
May 26, 2021
I really wanted to like this book. The concept is great. Unfortunately the writing is didactic and the description of one of the cousins is fat phobic.
February 1, 2023
Brilliant book! I love how every person is different, even the identical twins.
January 5, 2021
21 Cousins by Diane De Anda shares the beauty of a big family and celebrates the unique gifts of 21 cousins from a Latino family. We are introduced to cousins of different ages, appearances, interests, and challenges. Rather than their differences dividing them, they seem to unify them as a strong family. The whole family comes together the end to celebrate a special occasion.
I am almost certain children who read this book will find a cousin or two to relate to strongly. The illustrations are colorful and detailed. My almost four year old loved this book. The sentence length and wait to turn each page was a little much for him, but the pictures definitely retained his interest.
I was provided a free advance reader copy from Star Bright Books in exchange for my honest review on Net Galley. The opinions shared in this review are my own.
I am almost certain children who read this book will find a cousin or two to relate to strongly. The illustrations are colorful and detailed. My almost four year old loved this book. The sentence length and wait to turn each page was a little much for him, but the pictures definitely retained his interest.
I was provided a free advance reader copy from Star Bright Books in exchange for my honest review on Net Galley. The opinions shared in this review are my own.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews