My Bonus Mom!: Taking the Step Out of Stepmom

by Tami Butcher, Bill Engvall (Foreword), Feras Nouf (Illustrator)

In rhythmic verse, My Bonus Mom!, shows children of divorced families that a positive attitude can lead to a happy outcome and springs open their hearts and minds to accept their own bonus moms. It captures the mixed emotions that surge through young children as they deal with divorce and adjust to remarriage. The children work through their feelings of dismay, fear and anger, and grow to love dad's new wife, whom they come to think of as their bonus mom. Twice the attention, twice the love, twice the fun and twice as many birthday presents! What's not to love? Earned Honorable Mention at 2013 Southern California Book Festival!

56 pages, Paperback

First published August 15, 2011

Reviews

[Tori Alexander]

Divorce can be an uncomfortable conversation to have with children, especially young children. This book is a good read that helps parents talk to their children about divorce. Divorce families have a different dynamic that most conventional families do not. Children tend to live in separate households and struggle with the idea of their parents being separated. This is a great introductory piece that offers children a variety a ways to think, question, and consider how they feel about divorce. It's easy-to-read nature is appropriate for all children and the style of the text offers some comfort in having an 'extra' set of parents who love them. The author is a child of a divorce household, which provides some perspective from the viewpoint of a child. The portrayal of the adults have some biases because the authors reflects from her experience when she was a little girl. The illustrations reflect the heartfelt emotions of the words written by the author.

[Lenore Webb · Rating 5 out of 5]

In sharing that love I have been blessed to have the children that were born to my husband and his previous wives. When I first met the two oldest as teens, I knew I would never be their mother. That at best I would one day get to be a friend to them and someone they could trust to share with. I hated the view of step moms but I decided to use just that to break the ice with them. So I told them they did not need to call me mom or even my own name but instead to just call me Step Monster. They laughed so and embraced the name as a gift to me. It has never been looked upon as a negative. College Girl calls her step mom The Other Mother (you have heard me talk well of her here all the time). But I have found the right name thanks so to Tami Butcher. She has a book explaining the blended family to children, "My Bonus Mom!" Isn't that the perfect way to think of it? I love that it is so well put and a great joy to share the love of extra parents. My own transition in divorce and remarriage was one that I wanted to be pain free for College Girl (then high school gal). We kept a good line of communication between us and her father. He is now the best friend to my own husband. Our families are so blended that we feel it is only normal and natural to do so much of our lives together. That is the present we have, gosh, otherwise I would never have had a Princess Emma to enjoy. That is College Girls lil sis. We joke that we are extra wives, hubbies, moms and dads so that it confuses many. But for our family it works best this way. And even better so the kids get to have all the love in the world from all of us.

[K.L. Bernard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Divorce is difficult for parents and especially the kids. The children involved don't always understand and will put the blame on themselves. The best solution for this problem is to sit down with your kids and talk to them. Help them understand that they are not the problem. If you need a little visual help, introduce your young children to “My Bonus Mom”.

Not all stepparents are bad. Tami Butcher helps parents and children communicate their feelings with this wonderfully illustrated book. The core of this story comes from her own personal experiences as a young girl. Young readers can identify with the children in this book and will enjoy reading it over and over again.

The story Butcher shares is about three sisters who are experiencing divorce. Both parents are upset but they are assured it is not at them. Soon they are spending certain days with mom and every other weekend with dad. As they get the hang of the new schedule they find that birthdays and Christmas are double the fun with double the gifts. Even the dog has adapted. All seems well until dad brings along a new friend to meet them. The girls find that they enjoy her very much and would like to get to know her.

Butcher does a great job of showing readers that a new stepparent is a bonus. Readers will find through the rhythmic verse that stepparents are just people they will learn to love and in return they will be loved twice as much. This is a great story to share with children aged 5 to 8.

[Underground Book Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since the earliest days of storytelling, fairy tales have provided readers with wonderful characters and enchanting settings that capture both young and old hearts. But while they are wonderfully creative, fairy tales have also cast a pall over the concept of what it means to be a “stepmother”. That is why Tami Butcher’s My Bonus Mom: Taking the Step out of Stepmom is so refreshing. It attacks this stereotype head on and debunks the myth that all stepmothers must be cruel.

I highly recommend this engaging children’s story as it instantly grabbed me by the heart. It honestly deals with the realities of the situation and shows how something positive can come out of a negative situation.



Read the rest of this review at Underground Book Reviews: http://www.undergroundbookreviews.com...

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking for a book to read to my bonus kids to help them understand what a stepfamily is. This wasn't quite the situation we are in so it wasn't very helpful for me. I do think it is a great book and step moms could really benefit from using this book. Focuses on divorce and the introduction to a step mom.

[Marie Slim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! Knocked off one star for continuing the "helpless in the kitchen" dad stereotype. But the rest is rad!

[Jessica Burstrem · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 7-year-old stepson loved it. He wanted to read half the pages himself, and he liked the "bonus mom" and "bonus son" idea specifically, plus the fact that this was the author's own true story.