Published: 29th June 2021
Publisher: Affirm Press
Illustrator: Evie Barrow
Pages: 32
Format: Picture Book
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars
Willa had one dad one mum one home and a bird. And that was enough. So when Willa’s parents split up, she’s pretty sad. But at least they are still all hers. Until Dad meets Kevin and Willa’s family starts to grow … and keeps on growing. When will enough be enough? Or is there always room for more love?
This is a great book and I loved how complicated it became. This is a story beyond your basic divorced family, two houses and maybe a step sibling. Hutchings shows us how families can become complicated, big, messy, and how there is always enough love to go around.
The story flows well and with the repetition of one mum, one dad, one home, one bird, it is a creative way to tell a story of change as a family grows. It is also a good reminder that while family can grow, no own is ever taken out even if it changes.
The illustrations are realistic pencil sketches and Barrow makes each person unique while still keeping the family similarities. The call backs to the same scenes as Willa draws her family is great because even if the numbers change, the scene of her drawing her family is consistent.
I don’t want to spoil the end result, but there is a great representation of diversity, LGBTQIA families, as well as step siblings, half siblings, and the array of pets that also make up our family. It’s a great adventure Willa goes on through the years and I loved how the relationship changes never took away from how Willa felt or how she interacted with her parents and the time she spent with them.
Overall this is a story about family but it is also about love and is there such thing as too much love and is change really a bad thing in the end?
Enough Love? appears to be out of print but there may be a copy at your local library and possibly at Dick Smith
