- Title: Stella Brings the Family
- Author(s): Miriam B. Schiffer
- Illustrator/Photographer: Holly Clifton-Brown
- Publisher and Year: Chronicle Books, 2015
- Number of pages: 25
- Tags: Family, Diversity, Picture Book, Morgan Houk
- Genre: Realistic Fiction
- Analysis:
The plot of the book involved a young elementary school girl named Stella. Stella’ teacher decided to throw a Mother’s Day party in their class and allowed the students to bring a special guest. All of the Stella’s classmates were excited to bring their mothers to the Mother’s Day party but Stella felt as though she has no one to bring because she has two dads. Stella ends up bringing her two dads, her grandmother, her aunt and her cousin to the party and they all have a nice time.
This book really captures the windows/mirrors/doors theory of children’s literature. Reading this to a class of elementary students could be beneficial to them in many ways. Stella Brings the Family provides students with a window into the life of someone growing up with two fathers and it introduces them to a family structure that may be different from their own. In the story, Stella also has a classmate that has two moms which provides another family structure that may be unfamiliar to some children. On the other hand, this book can also act as a mirror for those children that are growing up with two fathers or two mothers. It also acts a mirror for those students who come from a heteronormative family background given that the majority of the students in the story have both a mother and a father.
The illustrations look as though they were drawn outlined in colored pencil and 
colored in using water colors. The characters in the story are more cartoon-like than realistic. The characters also appear to be very culturally diverse. There are a lot of bright colors and patterns used throughout the story and Stella is typically the main focal point on each page being drawn at the center and, in many cases, larger than the other characters on the page. There is not an author’s note or a glossary in the story but there is a summary of the book on the inside of the front cover that breaks down the story well. This may be beneficial to read to students after reading the book to really emphasize that Stella’s family is just like any other family even though it may appear different to others on the outside.