Mum and Dad Glue

Product Information

Although I think this story focused on parent separation in a nice way, I did feel like the ending was a bit abrupt.

It's not really a book that young children who aren't going through divorcing parents would want to read - it'd ask more questions than it asks. This book is written as a poem and tells the story of a little boy whos parents are getting divorced. Every Second Friday by Kiri Lightfoot and Ben Galbraith is another message book about divorce, this time dealing with children getting used to having two different homes. I really enjoyed this book as it follows the tale of a little boy who’s parents have/ are in the process of getting a divorce. I would say this book is mainly aimed at KS1 and early years children (if read by teacher/adult), however could also be used in lower KS2.This is the kind of book that should have a place in every class, as a teacher will not always know when a child is needing the kind of emotional reassurance it gives.

This book addresses many feelings and questions children may have related to such controversial themes. A powerful poem which follows a boy who’s parents are getting divorced and feels like he is to blame and struggling to come to terms with it. This book was a very risky topic for Gray to cover, and manifest in an early years foundation frame of mind.Even if a child has been raised by a single parent, their parents split before they were born for example, they could still benefit from a book like this. The illustrations highlight how, to them, it can feel like their whole world is breaking and changing which gives the adult reader a perspective on how the process can feel very overwhelming for the child/children involved. He's going through the usual emotions that children of divorce go through: worry, feeling unsure, blaming himself, anger, denial, and then trying to get them to stay together.

Most of the time it is not the fault of the kid, most of the time parents just lose their love, or find a new love, or some other reason.Essentially, the little boy, who is trying to use an inanimate tool, to fix a very real, tangible problem, comes to find that some things in life you cannot fix. This rhyming story is brilliantly told with a powerful message that even though his parents may be broken, their love for him is not. I think this would be a good book to offer children support who’s parents may be/ have split whilst giving other children a sense of empathy. This changes the boy’s attitude towards what is happening to his family and he begins to embrace events more positively. It offers a slightly different approach, but the core theme is exactly as you'd expect, and rightly so.

It shows the boy's discovery that sometimes family dynamics change, and although that can be worrying, his parents' love for him will not change. This book is written as a poem and is a lovely way to help children and make them aware of marriage break-ups between their parents and that there are ways of coping and that it will all be alright. Perhaps this would be a great story to talk about the effect of structure on the reader and the illusions that structure helps to create. The illustrations represent how he feels as if his whole word is breaking apart until he finds comfort in the fact that his parents love for him will never break. This book will be very relatable for many children and can spark great discussion with any aged child.Whilst this is effective in delving deeper into the child's thoughts, I could not help but feel that it reduced the impact of the reading, as the book felt too long and drawn out. By telling the story from the perspective of a child, the story creates a sense of longing in the reader and allows them to be swept up in the narrative as if they were in the text themselves. Its about him understanding that sometimes things are out of his control and instead of him blaming himself and trying to fix it, he instead accepts it even if it does still hurt. This is an excellent book that follows a child's journey of coming to accept the separation of his parents. I am glad that the parents talked to him, that the parents made time to make sure he was fine, and that they explained everything to him.