Book Review - 'Pearl and Her Bunch: Celebrating every kind of family' by Momoko Abe

I know I should adore this children's picture book. I should have warm fuzzy feelings towards a story starring sentient veggies and fruit, at home in a human kitchen, for its itty-bitty cuteness and warmhearted, sincere message about different families, of different shapes, sizes, colours and types - not every member in a family has to look the same to belong in that family; for them to be a family - and the complicated feelings and motions adopted children experience. What they must feel if the revelation that they are adopted comes so suddenly and unexpectedly; akin to an existential crisis.

This is a book about family love. The moral is: love is what makes a real family. This explicitly extends to LBGTQ+ families. How beautiful and precious.

Unfortunately, all I could think whilst reading 'Pearl and Her Bunch' is: "This is a 'Sausage Party' situation here, it literally can't not be." I hate that that's where my mind went, when looking at an innocent children's book, but it is impossible for me to unsee it or rationalise it away.

Blame Seth Rogen for me not being able to enjoy 'Pearl and Her Bunch: Celebrating every kind of family' as much as I should.

Final Score: 3/5