Gabrielle Union’s New Book Is A Love letter To Non-Traditional & Blended Families
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Gabrielle Union’s new children’s book Welcome to the Party is all about celebrating nontraditional families, including her own. The actress and former AGT judge wrote the book for her 18-month-old daughter Kaavia.
Kaavia was born via surrogate, and Gabrielle had trouble finding books about this particular parenting experience. Gabrielle has also embraced her husband Dwyane Wade’s children, proving families come in many different forms.
Gabrielle Union’s New Children’s Book ‘Welcome to the Party’
Gabrielle told People about the typical books she found to read to Kaavia about welcoming a baby to the family, which tended to focus on more traditional methods of parenthood.
“A lot of them tend to show an expectant mom and a hospital visit and then the baby comes home,” she said. “But for so many families where you didn’t physically give birth to your child, there’s not a ton of literature.”
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So Gabrielle set out to write her own book about the experience, calling it a “love letter” to Kaavia to let her know that she is “wanted” and “celebrated.” She also mentioned her own mother, who adopted three children starting at 60 years old.
“This is my love letter to every nontraditional family, blended families, that no matter how you became a new family, it is beautiful and real,” Gabrielle said of Welcome to the Party, which is available now.
Gabrielle Celebrates Non-Traditional Families
Gabrielle and Dwyane’s family includes more than just their daughter Kaavia. It also includes Dwyane’s kids from previous relationships — Zaire, 18, Zaya, 12, and Xavier, 6. Earlier this year, Gabrielle and Dwyane made headlines for their acceptance of daughter Zaya’s gender identity.
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Gabrielle told Fatherly.com that Zaya’s experience also influences how she’s raising Kaavia. She says Kaavia’s clothes aren’t “gender-specific,” and that she and Dwyane are “not shaping her identity.”
“There are so many families like ours that are non-traditional but still valuable and worth while and deserving of celebration,” Gabrielle told Parents.com. She and Dwyane have already shown this, and her new book Welcome to the Party just drives it home even more.
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