Review by Kirkus Book Review
A child processes parental separation. When Daddy and Papa decide to divorce, Grayson's life suddenly includes elements that will be familiar to many children. The parents share custody, switching off every week. Grayson's life is split down the middle, too. The child takes some possessions back and forth between two residences that don't feel like home after their "big brick house" got sold. Grayson also worries about being somehow responsible for the split, though a lack of defining characteristics makes it hard to know why, aside from this being a common concern among children whose parents separate. At one point Grayson hides under the bed in protest over having to move houses again, leading to a heartfelt conversation where both parents model ideal behavior during a divorce, talking through Grayson's feelings together and making clear that the divorce stemmed from mutual change rather than animosity. With an overabundance of exclamation points and static illustrations that directly mirror the text, this is a necessary text for children who don't see their family structure represented in other divorce books, but it's a workaday solution to that problem rather than an engaging story that could reach a wider audience. A readers' note offers adults more information on helping children cope with divorce. Papa is light-skinned, bearded, and burly; Daddy is slim, Black, and bespectacled. Grayson is tan-skinned. Perfectly practical. (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
