A joyful opening scene reveals a young girl standing on her head declaring she has more cousins that she can count on her fingers and toes. Then we meet these quiet and loud, dark, and fair, young, and old cousins. The illustrations are filled with happy, jubilant moments sharing activities such as playing the drum, guitar, and tuba. There are cousins who live near and cousins who live far away. Scenes of happy reunions of adults and children leap from the double pages, inviting us into these jubilant moments of holidays together exploring craggy caves and nights in wild campouts.

Food is bountiful and family activities feature. At Abdul’s house, they fill up on kibbeh and knafeh. The children enjoy sing-offs and dance-offs while grown-ups crack walnuts and share stories. There’s mention of the different languages the adults speak including German and Samoan. One day, the kids say, the adults might teach these languages to them. The illustrations show these cousins live around the world but when they gather together, they play their familiar games. The final illustration gathers this large and boisterous family together, proclaiming cousins are their ‘first friend, best friends, and their forever friends.’ Altogether ’My Cousins, My World’ is a joyful celebration of friendship, family, and culture.

Rich word descriptions appear throughout evoking strong emotions and claiming memories ‘wrap them in warm blankets.’ Beach scenes capture cultural games, like poya-kon, and there are scrumptious scenes of food waiting to be devoured. Both author and illustrator have culturally diverse backgrounds and sought to convey connections within families in this story. The Book Muse review points out the special strengths of this book. Here are ‘cousins who all look different, speak different languages, and live in different places. But they all share family, a culture, a belief system, and love – and that is what makes them family.’

1. Cultural Traditions
2. Family
3. Friendship
4. Immigrants
5. Kindness
6. Language
7. Migrants
8. Racial Identity
9. Relationships
10. Respect
11. Social Life