Mum and Dad Glue

Product Information

I would love to have a version of this book that is slight more general, without gendered parents for example to make sure all children could relate better to it if needed, but even so I think it's a great one. It softly and gently addresses what can be such a difficult subject with lighthearted illustrations and rhyming poetry. Although I think this story focused on parent separation in a nice way, I did feel like the ending was a bit abrupt. By telling the story from the perspective of a child, the story creates a sense of longing in the reader and allows them to be swept up in the narrative as if they were in the text themselves. Mum and Dad Glue by Kes Gray, illustrated by the winner of the Red House Children's Book Award 2013.

By creating this sense of emotion the book is ideal to create and sustain a dialogue with the child and also provides the child with the feelings that this is okay, and it is okay to question the events that are happening around them.This book will be very relatable for many children and can spark great discussion with any aged child. The love a parent has for a child is unconditional; Complete and absolute, and not dependent on any terms or conditions.

Perhaps this would be a great story to talk about the effect of structure on the reader and the illusions that structure helps to create. The characters have a rough charm that really draws you in - there are hints of Quentin Blake's ink drawings, but Wildish's style is very much of its own.The boy in the story thinks that if only he could find some parent glue to stick his mum and dad back together, things might go back to how they were.

The little boy then learns that is in fact okay that his parents have split and that it is not his fault nor will his parents love for him change. I love how it tackles the emotions they must be feeling in a light hearted manner (rhyming couplets).This was a beautiful, a bit humorous, but also sad book about a boy and his parents who are going to separate.