Drawn Together, by Minh Le and Dan Santat

You: “Again with the Dan Santat!! Move on lady!!”

Me: “I don’t care.”

We are slowly but surely making our way through all the Dan Santat work we can get our hands on, and we have not yet been disappointed.

Drawn Together is a truly lovely book that will touch the heartstrings of many families. It focuses on the relationship between a grandfather and his grandson and how they come to communicate despite speaking different languages. They find a common ‘language’ through drawing and the result is some truly amazing artistry that your kids will love.

Drawn Together is ostensibly about the bringing together of family members of different generations and thus different cultures and, possibly, different languages. However, I think we would do well to remember that most of us grew up in a culture very different from that of our grandparents, even if we lived in the same country.

My grandmother (who died when I was 4) grew up in the same city as me, only 45 years earlier and there is so much about my life that is so different from hers – the cars, the clothes, the devices and conveniences, the food, the attitudes and social norms, even the language (‘flossing’ would have only meant one thing to her).

This book contains very few words, but the message is clear and important for all families. This is a great addition to a family library.