Brown, Laurene Krasny, and Marc Brown. Dinosaurs Divorce, A Guide For Changing Families.
New York, NY:Little Brown and Company, 1986.

Dinosaurs Divorce extremely unique, not only in its content, but also it’s form. The author and illustrator worked together to create a very real depiction of what can occur when parents divorce. They wrote the book together for their children who had come together as step siblings to create a new and unique family unit. As the book opens there is a table of contents which lists the topics covered in the book such as: words that revolve around divorce and their definitions, why divorce can occur, feelings a child may have, what happens after, living with one parent, visiting parents, dealing with two homes, holidays and special occasions, telling friends about divorce, meeting parents new friends, and dealing with stepparents and stepsiblings. The book covers many reasons for why divorce could happen, feelings children may have, different situations that may result and different options for how to cope. I really enjoyed the comic book format because of it allowed versatility in the author’s representations of situations. For example, when talking about how a child may deal with feelings they explain that emotions may not be plain and simple to explain. Rather, they offer different emotions through distinct facial expressions to show that it is okay to feel not only sad, but also angry, afraid, confused, ashamed, relieved, guilty, and worried about who might take care of them. This is unique form other books because it allows the reader to take a second and think about how they feel and what situations apply to them. Further, the book offers many reasons divorce can occur, how to cope, and what may happen after the divorce which makes this book extremely beneficial to a variety of readers who come from diverse and unique family situations. I think this book is also of great value because it can be used for children who have not been affected by divorce personally. The authors did an excellent job specifically describing all the different outcomes divorce can bring to a child while intertwining emotion with each possible pathway. This book, although could be read and explained to a very young audience, seems to be geared toward elementary age and middle school students because it covers a lot of information. There is one part of the book where the authors are writing about how parents may be upset with each other and behave in ways that hurt themselves and their family. This is depicted by a mom finishing a martini with bottles and pills behind her which, although often realistic, too mature for young readers to understand. As always, the book ends with the message that no matter how divorce affects a family or what happens after parents will always love their children.