I Live in Two Homes: Adjusting to Divorce and Remarriage

Kids Have Troubles Too

by Sheila Stewart, Camden Flath

Discusses living with divorced and remarried parents, including the causes of divorce, coping with changes, stepparents, and blended families, and provides a story about a girl whose father has found a new partner.

Genres: Nonfiction

48 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2009

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database. This is Sheila^Stewart, writer on emotional and psychological coping especially in children.

Reviews

[Tory S. Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story in this book focuses on blending a family as sisters Whitney and Celeste deal with their dad becoming engaged to a woman with children of her own. It doesn't pretty it up, staying true to its series that "Kids have troubles too." The concluding paragraph sums up the role of this book pretty well:

"Things would never be the same as they had been, she knew, but that didn't mean they couldn't be good. Things were always changing in life and this change, she thought, was actually pretty good."

The story is fairly genuine and substantial for dealing with challenges, but the treasure of the book is the discussion portion of the latter third of the book, speaking with few illustrations but with direct talking points and some statistics to some of the major questions children will have. These points are good for children and their parents, and will be particularly useful if the children can read this section themselves.

[Heidi-Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stuff at the end of the book was informative and helpful for me as a new stepmother. The story party of the book--both times I read it with reading to the stepchildren in mind--was rather meh. Not one I care to share in that regard, but I still gained some useful things from it.

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Age: 2nd-4th grade

Half fiction, half nonfiction, this series book (Kids Have Troubles Too) gives a quick overview of confusion, acceptance, and child empowerment in the process of a divorce and remarriage. Although the text is short and simplified, a younger child can read it by themselves. This is important for such a personal subject.

The fiction story follows Celeste, her father's remarriage, and their growing family--including a step-sister. The step-mother and step-sister were not demonized, although the step-sister was conflicted and confused, just like Celeste. The resolution was somewhat unrealistic when a simple "sorry" and mutual understanding was exchanged between the two girls. This may frustrate a reader if they try and fail.