Review: The World of Sylvanian Families The Official Guide
This book is relatively new; it debuted around Christmas, 2023. It’s 110 pages, hardbound, and written with children in mind, but with value for adult collectors.
You can find some sample pictures of the interior on Amazon, but I wanted to talk a bit about what they do and don’t include, so you can decide for yourself if it’s a worthwhile addition to your own collection.
The book contains a story of the origin of Sylvania, which is heartwarming and sweet, with cute illustrations. The illustrations are the only time some of the vintage families appear in the book.
It also contains a section on the families themselves, including photos of the figures, their names, and the description of each member that you would usually find on the bottom of the box.
(Please forgive this photo’s strange lighting; the weather changed while I was writing.)
The most popular families get their own page and the Chocolate rabbits actually have a two-page spread. The families included are:
the Persian Cats (the Persians)
the Fennec Foxes (the Fennecs)
the Milk Rabbits (the Periwinkles)
the Ponies (the Manelys, plus Bella Chestnut and Giselle Silver)
the Bears (this is the Petite family of bears)
the Hedgehogs (the Brambles)
the Koalas (the Outbacks)
the Penguins (the Waddles)
the Toy Poodles (the Cakebreads)
the Kangaroos (the Hoppers)
the Yellow Labradors (the Fentons)
the Red Deer (the Buckleys)
the Reindeer (the Snowdrifts)
the Tuxedo Cats (the Marlowes)
the Bubblebrook Elephants
the Goats (the Brightfields)
The older brothers and sisters have their own page called “In The Town”, separate from the families. Interestingly, this includes Lionel Grand, who I hadn’t considered to be an older sibling. I might have to check his figure now.
The book also includes maps of Sylvanian Village, Sylvania Town, Seabreeze Cape, and Sylvanian Land, the amusement park for the babies. I think this is a fine bit of inspiration for designing your own layouts.
The book also includes descriptions of the seasons and Sylvanian holidays, including both Christmas and Easter.
In the back is a short timeline of Sylvanian Families history.
It is necessarily incomplete, given the target audience and the amount they’d probably have to pack into a book if they weren’t being general. Unfortunately it does not contain the full information on each of the various families and when they were released. There is definitely still room for a collector’s book for adults that includes information on the vintage families and sets.
Finally, the last page in the book is a delightful encapsulation of Sylvanian Families values.
I think this is a wonderful addition and a perfect capstone to the book, and I am very happy with owning it. I do hope that someday there will be a book for adult collectors, with the same kind of aesthetic, but with the full details we would love to have.
