Bill Cochran

Ted’s parents are divorced, but that doesn’t mean he’s weird. Instead, there are a lot of other reasons that he’s weird. Like the fact that his elbows are nicknamed Clyde and Carl, or that he sometimes answers the phone and pretends to be a chicken, or that he wears a cape a lot even when it’s not Halloween. Sometimes he makes soap Mohawks with his hair in the tub and then walks around the house like that. He’s done it at his mom’s house and at his dad’s house, and they both show more think it’s a little weird.

Ted also tells us a lot of other things about his life, especially his life with divorced parents. Like how it bums him out when he has to leave one house to go to the other, or how he didn’t like his new stepmom at first, or how his parents both come to his soccer games but never stand together. He even tells us how bad it was the day his parents sat him down to tell him about the divorce, how he still thinks about the divorce, and how it still hurts every night. But that’s not the part of his life that’s weird, that’s just the way his life is.

My Parents are Divorced deals honestly with very emotionally painful issues, but it also sends the very important message that children in divorced families should not feel defined by the fact that their parents are divorced. There are lots of other things that give each of them a unique identity – or a weird identity, in Ted’s case – that have nothing to do with what their family is like. In the same vein, both of Ted’s parents are depicted as whole people with their own distinct personalities, including dad’s mastery of making yummy burritos and his skill at helping with Ted’s math homework. Despite the sobering subject matter, My Parents are Divorced ends on a positive note that encourages children to feel good about themselves no matter what their families are like – or how weird they are. Review by Book Dads show less

Ted's parents are divorced, but it doesn't mean he's weird. In this book, the protagonist Ted gives lots of little facts about himself that may cause people to think he's odd. But the recurring theme is that his parents have divorced, and he has to deal with this loss. The issue of divorce and grief is not shied away from here. It is made clear that Ted loves both of his parents, and that he is still dealing with what happened. But just like the other facts about him, his parents no longer show more being together is just that- a fact. This does not define who Ted is as a person. show less

This is a good book, but I'm starting to think that Wallace Wallace had a point about the dead dog books. Yeesh. I do not need to read another one. I'd recommend this for kids with pets, kids who have lost a pet, or kids coping with any kind of loss, really.

A boy shares some of his experiences with the divorce of his parents, as well as many other interesting things about himself. While this book acknowledges the challenges a kid might face when coping with divorce, it focuses on the personality of the whole child.
Source: Pierce County Library (Lakewood)
Ages: 7-9