Mum and Dad Glue

Product Information

As divorce is such a common yet difficult topic to explore with children, 'Mum and Dad Glue' is a necessary book that is accessible for all ages, full of longing and acceptance. Gray did not want to give false hope to any child that could be experiencing the demise of their parents’ marriage - this would be unethical, and could be potentially damaging to a child's emotional state (especially, for example, if Gray wrote a story where the parent's got back together, and everything mapped out harmoniously, because that could create a distorted, misleading expectation in a child's mind). The illustrations and rhymes are lighthearted and make the book feel very accessible for adults and children. This book is written as a poem and tells the story of a little boy whos parents are getting divorced.

This can be used as a conversation started with those children in your class that are going through this tough situation. Kes was voted by the Independent as one of the TOP TEN children's authors and he is the author of the award-winning Eat Your Peas and winner of the Red House Children's Book Award. 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. e. that you need ‘love’ and not ‘parent glue’ is so eloquently put across - Gray reminds us that love is a internalised feeling, that lives inside each and every one of us, and it is this image, this thought, and this emotion, that is able to override any sense of insecurity a child feels that is experiencing their parents going through a divorce. It softly and gently addresses what can be such a difficult subject with lighthearted illustrations and rhyming poetry.

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. Mum and Dad Glue is very much a message book, and is aimed squarely at young children in the exact same situation as the unnamed hero. 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.

Though it may be useful for directing children's thoughts towards the idea that lots of parents separate and that they can be just as happy with separated parents, I would worry that the book may make a child think that their feelings are wrong or that they have to feel a certain way. This video link is provided to help an adult assess the book's suitability for a child's situation before purchasing it. Summary: A sensitive and helpful message book about a young child trying to come to terms with his parents' divorce. It offers a slightly different approach, but the core theme is exactly as you'd expect, and rightly so.

It is about a little boy who is trying to cope with his parent separating but because his world is torn apart, its hard for him to do.

He explains to the reader that although his parents are apart they will always love him, and if they could have resolved their differences they would have done it by now. Beautifully rhyming story that flows and in with really lovely language tackles the issue of parent separation. The cracks on the page that follow the boy throughout the book reinforce the fact he feels his whole world is now broken and then when he realises everything might just be okay, those cracks disappear.This book will be a great book to have in my classroom to assist children when coming to terms with their parents splitting up! This story is told in such a kind and soft way that this may allow children to feel comfortable to talk about the subject. In spite of his initial apprehension, Gray said that he wanted to provide a view of divorce (from a child's perspective), that was not only just, but one that lent itself to honesty and integrity. It is important for him to look into the future and see that things will be okay and that they will always love him.

I would love to have a version of this book that is slight more general, without gendered parents for example to make sure all children could relate better to it if needed, but even so I think it's a great one. 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. In the second half of the book, where the main character realizes that it is ok and that hearts cannot be put back together with glue the images are no longer broken.This book was a very risky topic for Gray to cover, and manifest in an early years foundation frame of mind. This is an excellent book that follows a child's journey of coming to accept the separation of his parents.