Customer Reviews

Dinosaurs Divorce

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I was appalled when I turned the page and saw a picture of the 'mom' dinosaur drinking a martini with wine and liquor bottles on the table behind her, along with a bottle of pills spilled open! I just don't think that was appropriate for children.

In addition, I think the book should have been geared to DIVORCE and not dating and getting remarried. Those topics should have been addressed in a separate book. It is hard enough helping a child cope with divorce, let alone adding new step parents and step siblings in the mix much too prematurely.

Still searching for a good book for children on divorce. I was very dissapointed in this.

This book plays as a comic strip filled with vital information for a child whom is experiencing the tragedy of divorce. The pages light up with the vibrant depictions of the dinosaur families. The characters are depicted with great detail to facial expressions. The cartoon drawings will help the reader understand and relate to the different emotions expressed. This great learning tool includes the topics: divorce words and what they mean; why parents divorce; what about you; after the divorce; living with one parent; visiting your parent; having two home.... It lets the child know that it is not their fault for the parents' divorce. It reassures the child that parents divorce when they are no longer able to get along no matter how hard they try. Feelings that a child may not be use to experiencing such as sadness, shame, anger, guilt, and/or worried about who will take care of you. The book instructs the child to talk about how they feel so they may feel better. Often a child may be afraid to cry but Dinosaurs Divorce lets them know that it is okay to let their feelings out through tears. What I really love is that the book is realistic and never lies to the child. A child is told the truth that although they may hope that their parents will marry each other, it is very unlikely because divorce is final and most parents do not get back together. While reading the book, the reader gains useful tips about what to do after the divorce. An example is to not listen when parents say bad things about each other. The book offers the advice to tell them that you love both of them and hearing such bad things upsets you. Every area of divorce and the repercussions that may follow are covered in this book. Being a child of divorce myself, I wish I would have a had a book like this to help me get through the bad times and to let me know that how I was feeling was normal. I bought this bought for myself and brought it how to show my mother. She too agreed on how a book like this would have been useful to her in explaining our new altered life to my brothers and I. This is an excellent book for anyone, regardless of age, to add to their bibliotherapy collection. I highly recommend this book of mental medicine!

Although possible sources of strife are briefly mentioned (your parents may criticize each other, or may not know how to relate to you), others are glossed over. The book assures the child reader that both parents continue to love the child, which is warm and fuzzy but not (in my experience as an elementary teacher) always true. Unfortunately.

In 31 pages, children who may be just facing the bombshell news of their parents' divorce are galloped willy-nilly through the times ahead, including the possible remarriage of their parents and the advent of stepchildren. It's true this is among the range of things that may have to be faced, but other unpleasant things that sometimes have to be faced during divorce are glossed over and left out (public scenes, calls to the police, institutionalization, alcoholism...). So why drag that in at such a delicate moment?

I wonder if this book perhaps offers more comfort to the parents of the children it's intended for than to the children themselves.

the book dinosaurs divorce was a good book for me to read i think. i am 13 now but read it when I was about 8. I found (?) that by hearing it from a makebelieve character or talking animal, i would understand and listen more. If you are around that age or actually any young age up to about, say 13, its a good book to read. And don't be embaressed to read it either. It will help you!

This book may be geared toward slightly older children, contrary to the indication on the site. While the humourous and familiar illustrations help to relieve a very tense situation, parts of the book fall flat.

The image of the mother throwing back a martini with a bottle of pills at her side seems a bit gratuitous and inappropriate for smaller children. Other serious issues(spousal abuse, infidelity, child abuse)are (wisely) not addressed, and it seems that the authors are trivializing substance abuse by including it in this way.

It is difficult to use this book in the early stages of informing a small child about divorce, as it quickly introduces issues that are likely quite a ways down the road; for example "Will I love my stepmom"?

For smaller children, 4 to 6 years old, I prefer Vicki Lansky's It's Not Your Fault Koko Bear.

I am an elementary guidance counselor that works with children whose family is going thru or has gone thru divorce. This book is fantastic in helping the children understand what is going on in their life. I love the way it is broken down into sections, so that I can use the section that will best help the child. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK!!!!!!

My ex husband and I divorced when my daugther was two (she's seven now) and everything has always been friendly, so I never thought that we'd have any problems. However, this year she was unlucky enough to sit in class next to a little girl whose parents were having a very ugly and public divorce. Evidently these parents did nothing to hide the nastiness from their daugther either, because each day my daugther came home with a new horror story. The entire ordeal left my little girl very confused about what divorces where and what it meant for a family.

A friend recommended this book and it solved everything!!! My daughter actually came into my room last night (with a HUGE smile on her face) and thanked me for buying the book. She also asked me to please thank the friend who recommended it. Her exact words about the book were that "it explained everything to me and now I understand -- its so much better now! I know everything is okay now." I can't tell you how much I missed that smile, or how much hearing these words meant.

I am not remarried and neither is my ex-spouse, so the "step" section didn't apply to us either. However, I think that children should know what that is in case it comes up in the future, or if they encounter a friend who has a step family. It is important to answer all of their little questions before they become problems.

About the parent who worried about the martini drinking mom -- my daugther saw it. No big deal. She was more impressed by the pills next to the empty glass. I just explained matter of factly that some people hurt themselves by drinking excessively or taking medication that the doctor doesn't prescribe for them because they are so sad. That led to a discussion about sadness and how to deal with it. It was time very well spent.

I strongly recommend this book (as if you hadn't figured that out already). Good luck to all the single moms out there. You are not alone and your children will be fine. It just takes some extra effort to make sure.

God Bless.

I've used this book in my practice as a child custody lawyer for the past 10 years, sharing it with both adult and child clients. Unlike many other books, this one shows the full range of feelings that children experience. Children strongly identify with the dinosaurs and I find looking at the book helpful in interviewing young children. The dinosaurs live in a variety of post-separation settings ranging from two homes to little contact with one parent. Many other books show only one living arrangement and children in other situations feel abnormal.

when my parents got a divorce I was presented with this book by someone who was no doubt wellmeaning and kind. it is not their fault that I continue to blame Danny the dinosaur (or what ever the protagonist's name is) for many of the hangups I had in childhood surrounding my parents divorce.

before reading this book I had never been worried that my parents would somehow come to love me and my sister less because of the divorce or that they were splitting up because of me. the care with which the author addressed anxieties I did not yet have until they were presented to me herein as "perfectly normal" further reinforced that these things were big and scary problems that I ought to worry about.

I had also not yet been worried that one of my parents would move far away, a thing that never happened, until reading the supposedly reassuring words in this book.

to anyone in the midst of a divorce, I implore you, do not buy this book for your child. if you don't know how to talk to your kid about the divorce, just don't badmouth your former spouse and explain what is going on with as much facts and as little "comforting reassurance" or editorializing as possible. then be there for your kid. no book is going to replace your presence in your child's life, no book will explain your disappearance.

ask what your child is worried about, address those worries, don't go out of your way to inflict more by getting them to read this book.

Dinosaurs' Divorce is a great book to snuggle up and read with young children going through divorce. Even older siblings seem interested in reading it. It helps children understand the feelings they may have while going through the divorce, learn how to handle mistakes parents sometimes make, and deal in a positive way with their changing family and living arrangement. The most important thing children learn from this book is that their parents' love for them will never change.