Laurie Krasny Brown

Summary:

This informational book was basically a guide for children to help them tolerate and understand divorce. To make it seem cute and funny, the authors used dinosaurs as the characters in all of the illustrations and the title. Throughout the book it explains what divorce is and why parents get divorced. It expresses what kinds of feelings and emotions are natural to feel as a child going through this kind of experience. It gives insight to children about what life may be like with show more their parents after divorce and what it might be like living with one parent. It talks about visiting your parents, having two homes, celebrating holidays, telling your friends, meeting parents’ new friends, living with stepparents, having step siblings and basically all the ins and outs of divorce. It really is a ‘guide for changing families.’

Comments (opinions/arguments):

Having just read this book at twenty-four years old, I really wish I would’ve had this book when I was ten years old and having to deal with my parents’ divorce. Going through a divorce at a young age can be really confusing and hard to deal with. I know I struggled for a long time trying to sort out my emotions and feelings about my family and especially my parents. I held a lot of resentment towards both of them for a long time and I wish there had been a book for me to read to cope with the issues. I really enjoyed this book because although it looks like a children’s story book from the outside, it’s actually an informational guide for children who are dealing with divorce within their families. It’s even equipped with a table of contents and glossary on the first two pages. I also really liked that it had something new to talk about on each page. It was almost set up like a comic book strip, with multiple situations and pictures to go along with the words. This book is remarkable because it really hits on all of the things I wish someone would have told me as a child about divorce and it does so in a very logical progression of ideas. The author was really smart to start with explaining why parents’ divorce and immediately explain the feelings you as a child might start experiencing. I also thought it was really smart that the authors touched on how life would be after divorce, to kind of gear a child up for what to expect next. The part about how to tell your friends and how to deal with your parents dating someone new where the two sections that really hit home for me. When I was going through my parents’ divorce, it was really hard for me to explain what was going on to my friends and instead I moved away without even telling many of them. I also had a really rough time when my parents started dating again and I often was really rude and mean to both my parents and their girlfriends and boyfriends. Looking back now, if I had had a book like this to guide me along the way, things might have been different for me. This book really is a great book to teach children that divorce is natural and ok. I think it could really give a lot of children good advice and help them cope with this big change in their lives and among their families. It also helps that the story is conveyed through dinosaurs, letting children know that even dinosaurs divorce. show less

This book is actually one of my favorite books of all time. I read this book when my parents got divorced, so it has a special spot in my heart. One reason why this book always resonated with me was the illustrations. I felt like I could relate because the characters were DINOSAURS. There was no "black" or "white" or "christian" or "jewish". The dinosaurs could represent anyone, which is a safe feeling. Also, the dinosaurs were just so silly looking. They have these huge nostrils that always show more managed to crack me up.
Another reason why I liked this book was because of the fluidity. I like how the book is separated into different sections, such as how a child may feel during/after the divorce. This gives each section meaning, and they usually flow into the next section.
The main idea of this book is that divorce is ok, even for dinosaurs. show less

I loved this book! I thought it was a really cute and different spin on an informational book. It provided information for readers to try out in order to be a good friend. The book provided facts about friendships, these facts which are important for readers to be aware of while forming friendships. For example, the book starts by saying, "Me Myself and I: There are times when it feels good to be by yourself, enjoying your own company" (Pg 1). I believe that the way this was written is very show more beneficial to readers. In a sense, it gives them a guideline to take into consideration when being social with peers. I also liked how the author chose to use illustrations and labelled/ captioned these illustrations - similarly to a comic strip. Through the exchange of information, readers are able to stay engaged and are able to put themselves in the characters' shoes. I also really love how the book pushes readers to think about changes they can make to be the best friend that they can. The main idea or message is that, friendships are not easy, but through effort and being understanding of those close to you, you cannot fail as a friend. show less

As the title says, this is a guide to understanding death. There is no story line or entertainment element whatsoever. The illustrations are what attracted me to the book, because although the topic of death is dark and sad, the drawings are very bright and colorful. The book has separate sections that are meant to explain death to children. I believe that they achieve that goal, however I don’t think they do it in a very appealing way. The text is very informative, presenting very real show more experiences (such as loss of a pet, grandparent, or cousin) and feelings (such as confusion, fear, sadness, etc.), but the lack of a plot or story makes it unappealing to children, who are the target audience of this book. Authors who are tackling the topic of death in children’s literature should present it in a manner that is serious but also somewhat lighthearted, and this book fails to do that. Although I find this book to be completely unattractive to young readers, it can still provide a lot of information about death. show less