5 Books That Do Not Suck for Families Going Through a Divorce
When going through a major family change like a divorce, it’s really important to find books to share with your kids that reflect families like theirs - which is why when it came to reading books about divorce to my own kids, I searched forever to find books that weren’t sad, weren’t about feeling sad or angry, and more importantly, were empowering - and also, full of all different family types, to show them that they are not alone and “family” has so many definitions! The following books fit my criteria as they show families in all types of family systems, and the general focus is on families and less on the actual divorce. I read all of these with my own kids and we still read them daily.
To be honest, even if you’re not getting divorced, it’s just super important to expose your children to different family types via literature - so, these are truly great books for all families!
Here are 5 books that do not suck for families going through a divorce:
Todd Parr is a fantastic children’s book author and illustrator, with his bold colors, and simple, yet powerful statements. We love this fun book about different family styles, types, sizes, and more. It depicts every family system you can think of in a really fun way which’ll get your kiddos smiling and pointing out specific parts.
When I was looking for books about parents separating for my kids (who were both under 5 at the time), there was practically nothing on the market that felt GOOD to share with them. Everything was so sad and depressing - and assumed the children were angry - and my kids didn’t even know they should feel angry, so why would I want to put that idea in their head? I loooooved You Make Your Parents Super Happy because it celebrates the kid and their relationship to both parents. We still read this book at bedtime, 2 years later!
Going to keep it simple and just say I love this book with all of my heart. It shows quite literally every type of family, religion, body type, race, ethnicity - and every house type, style (even addresses homelessness), etc. Truly love this one and think every family and classroom should have The Great Big Book of Families.
All About Families by Usborne
Another one of my favorite books about people and humanity - All About Families is another knockout book by Usborne! We love all of the family types, styles, systems, clothing, races, and religions in All About Families - and this one addresses step-families, too! Love it so much.
Another one of our faves, Who’s In My Family has some great and simple explanations of family types for even the smallest kiddos. We checked this one out from the library and still have it. Oops. Even families make mistakes.
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