When my daughter and I picked out a few books for Family History Month in October, I never expected the gem that I found in The Kids’ Family Tree Book. The book is huge, and not meant to be read straight through; instead, Caroline Leavitt’s book is a child’s guide to genealogy, and covers every topic from creating your own family tree to searching online for your family past, setting up family reunions and family traditions, and so much more. The entire book is a wonderful how-to guide for children who are interested in searching into their family history and learning more about where they came from.

Sweetly illustrated by Ian Phillips, the book also contains plenty of photos for an interesting real-life element. The book also has plenty of tip boxes, fun facts, and bulleted guidelines to follow that make it even more interesting and easier to follow.

It begins very simply, showing children how to create a very easy map of their families with just the information that they might know now—their parents and grandparents and, of course, themselves. Then it goes into details about each family member—such as where they went to school, where they were born, where they lived, job or military status, and other details.

A fan-shaped chart is introduced next, which provides an easy way to display direct ancestors. Next, readers are advised about how to go looking for their roots, which includes beginning where they already know and going from there. Data sheets or lists of questions are provided to ask various family members to help create entire family histories and trees. These not only help directly fill out information, but also provide the researcher with information on where to go next in his or her research.

The book provides helpful lists of words to know (from ancestor to surname) and how to get organized in your research, such as creating a genealogy workbook. Descriptions on how to make a file box for your findings and how to handle old photos are even included!

This would be a fantastic book for any kids into history, family trees and genealogy, or even photography. I would also recommend it for anyone interested in genealogy, particularly beginners, since it provides such useful information about getting started. Though we checked this one out from the library, it’s definitely going on our wish list of books to own.