Synopsis
(back cover)
A little boy searches for a pot of parent glue to paste his mom and dad's marriage back together. He soon realizes that even though his parents' marriage is broken, their love for him remains as strong as ever.
Brilliantly told by award-winning author Kes Gray, this absorbing story will have special meaning for children of divorced parents.
(front flap)
Divorce is an unhappy fact that affects many children's lives, and the story told in this book was written for those little boys and girls. Its message can help soothe their feelings and make them understand that their parents' separation is in no way their fault. Parents who are divorcing will also value Mom and Dad Glue as a story they can read to their children and help them realize that although their parents' marriage has not worked out, Mom and Dad love them today, as they always have and always will.
(back flap)
The Author:
A background as an award-winning advertising copywriter prepared Kes Gray to become a picture book writer. The British author learned how to keep his thoughts concise and accessible to his readers. His craft has served him well in his most recent endeavors as author of books for children--titles that have proven popular on both sides of the Atlantic. Mom and Dad Glue is his first book for Barron's.
Publishers Weekly
Distraught by his parents' marital difficulties, a boy decides that he needs “parent glue” to “patch their marriage up.” A kindly local glue shop owner explains “[t]hat sometimes life works out this way,/ That what must be must be,” and gradually the boy comes to understand that “[m]y parents may be broken/ But their love for me is not.” Wildish's (All Better) little but large-headed hero is instantly sympathetic in both his determination and vulnerability. A recurring “cracked” motif—doors, trees, and other objects are shown torn in half—underscores how a parental fissure makes a child's entire world feel broken. Many of Gray's (006 and a Half) rhymes come across as platitudes (“The more I hold together/ The more I'm super strong./ The more I'll come to terms with things/ The less it will seem wrong”), but may offer comfort, along with a few choice lines (“sometimes love gets damaged,/ Way beyond repair”; “I need to make the best of things,/ There is no glue for hearts”) that should help readers realize that time is most likely to heal the hurt. Ages 5–8. (Nov.)