Two Homes - Softcover

Claire Masurel Kady MacDonald Denton

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0744589258 ISBN 13: 9780744589252

Publisher: Walker Books Ltd, 2002

Synopsis

Two-Homes

About this title

About the Author

Claire Masurel is the author of numerous books for children, including Too Big, illustrated by Hanako Wakiyama, A Cat and a Dog and No Tito No!. She wrote Two Homes after talking to a child who was sad about her parents' recent divorce. She says, "To comfort her, I talked about her two homes, and all the many things she could do in them. It was a positive way of helping her accept the changes in her life, focusing not on what was missed, but on the abundance of good times - and love - that she would continue to share with her mum and dad." Claire lives in France. Kady MacDonald Denton is an award-winning illustrator, whose work includes A Child's Treasury of Nursery Rhymes', Til All the Stars Have Fallen: Canadian Poems for Children, Snow, written by Joan Clark, and, most recently, Bonny Becker's Mouse and Bear books. About this book, she says, "Alex talks about simple things like toothbrushes, bedrooms, and friends - and they are all special because they are part of the love Alex feels in both homes. I tried to show that love in the illustrations." She lives in Ontario, Canada with her husband. Find Kady online at www.kadymacdonalddenton.ca.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Ages 2-5. Young Alex introduces himself and his parents, then announces that he has two homes: sometimes he lives with Daddy (in a suburban house) and sometimes with Mommy (in a city apartment). The discussion of his two homes sets up the book's comfortable dual structure: "I have two rooms. My room at Daddy's. My room at Mommy's . . . I have two bathrooms. I have a toothbrush at Daddy's. I have a toothbrush at Mommy's." Each spread includes complementary pictures that show the boy engaged in similar activities at both locales. The ending affirms that his parents love Alex, no matter where he is and no matter where they are. Within the ink, watercolor, and gouache illustrations are delightful reproductions of Alex's own paintings. Other scenes, warm with luminous washes against white backgrounds, celebrate the everyday details of Alex's life. Parents looking for a book about separation or divorce will find few offerings as positive, matter-of-fact, or child-centered as this one. With a sure sense of audience, Masurel concentrates on the physical and emotional fundamentals that matter to children while deftly sidestepping the adult-oriented swamp of explanation and supposition. Enhanced by Denton's sensitively drawn portrayals of the characters within well-imagined scenes of domestic life, this picture book will validate the experience of other two-household children while intriguing those in single-home families. Simple, yet profoundly satisfying. Carolyn Phelan
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About this edition

• Publisher: Walker Books Ltd
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0744589258
• ISBN 13: 9780744589252
• Binding: Paperback