Summary: "Two Homes to Live In: A Child's Eye View of Divorce" is about a girl named Niki whose parents are getting a divorce. The book goes through the progression of her feelings and how things change for her when her parents get a divorce. First, she explains how she lived with her parents as one family but they would often argue and be mad at each other which led to them getting a divorce. When her father moved into a new place she always missed him. When she was with her mommy, she always missed her daddy and when she was with her daddy, she always wished for her mommy. Niki expressed her feelings of sadness to her parents and how she wanted them to stay together. Her parents both explained to her that they will never get married again. Soon, Niki starts to realize that divorce isn't so bad because the parents are not divorcing her.

Review: The central message of this story is that parents may get a divorce but they are not divorcing the child. Things may change but a child still has both a mother and father. In my opinion, I liked how the book showed the different feelings a child may go through when dealing with divorced parents. In the book, readers see how Niki was very sad at first and had trouble with adjusting. However, as the story progresses Niki understands her parents will never remarry and starts to accept the changes. The story was also honest and showcased how a parent should talk to their child about divorce. For example, the book says "When mommy asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I told her my wish. Mommy said, I'm sorry but that wish can't come true. The book didn't show the parents trying to give false hope to the child but rather being open and honest. ( )

Summary:

In this story, a little girl named Niki learns about divorce when her parents decide to separate. At first she doesn’t seem to quite understand what divorce means and feels confused about her feelings. She quickly learns about divorce and struggles with feelings of sadness and anger. Although she feels as if it were her fault, her parents quickly explain that it has nothing to do with her and that no matter what they will both love her forever. Throughout the entire story, Niki encounters what it’s like to have divorced parents and how to express her feelings towards it. As she gets older, she learns that divorce is very common among families and learns to cope with it much better. She begins to see the positive side of having divorced parents because it’s like having two of everything. By the end of the story she is just happy being able to spend time with both of her parents and being a normal kid, despite the sadness she had before.

Comments (opinions/arguments):

At first I thought this book looked uninteresting because it had a plain and old looking cover. Once I opened it, I noticed it had very detailed and colorful illustrations. By the time I finished reading it my opinion of the story had completely changed. Overall, I think this book is a wonderful example to use with children who are dealing with divorced parents. From the very first page, it immediately defines what divorce means. I feel like for most children, the word “divorce” can be extremely confusing and alien to them. I really liked that the story began by explaining exactly what divorce means because it helps children to understand what might be happening in their family. This book also expresses a really positive outlook and attitude towards divorce that can make it not seem so bad to children. Having been a child myself who grew up in a divorced family, I saw a lot of negative things that come along with divorce. I think this story really helps children to understand that divorce has nothing to do with them and that it’s a problem between their parents. I really like how the story says, “They are divorced from each other. But not from me.” This gives children the reassurance that even though their parents are splitting up, that they’re not going to leave them. This story also really explores the different feelings that children may have when they witness their parents going through a divorce. It explains through the character Niki that you’re going to feel angry and sad a lot, but with some time you’ll eventually feel much better about the situation. I think the overall message to children is that it’s ok to express your feelings and to feel a certain way when dealing with divorce and that it’s actually a common thing that a lot of children go through. I really like how relatable this book is for children because I think it will really make children understand divorce and their feelings about it a lot better. In the end, they will see that divorce is pretty common and that their not the only one going through it. ( )

In Two Homes to Live in, a young girl named Niki explains that when her parent’s got divorced she felt sad almost all the time and thought everything was wrong. Happily, through time Niki learns that lots of families are divorced and there are good things about it; especially that Niki's parents didn’t divorce her and they will always love her, no matter what. I liked this book because it focused on a very real aspect of divorce (sadness) and I would like to teach using Two Homes to Live in as a method to discuss difficult feelings, like sadness. This book would be suitable for Grades PreK-3 with themes on family structures, dealing with divorce, and coping with difficult emotions (like sadness or anger).