Recommend some children's books showing divorced parents!

March 1, 2016 2:59 PM

I'd love to find some children's books that present something other than a traditional nuclear family just... as a matter of course, not as the focus of the story. Can you recommend some kid's books that a) show parents that don't live together and b) are not specifically about the process of separation/divorce?

Recently, while reading Peppa Pig to my partner's 3-year-old daughter, I realized that all the books I read to the kids talk about a Mommy and a Daddy who live together in the same house. I'd like to find some books with a main character who doesn't live with both parents.

I know that there are kid's books about divorce or "mommy's house and daddy's house" (like Living with Mom and Living with Dad), but I'm looking for books that include non-traditional family structures without making it the focus of the story. For example, if Peppa Pig lived with her mom during the week and her dad on the weekends, but the story was still about her adventures at school -- that's more what I'd like to find. I'd extra-love to find something that shows non-parent adults too, but really, any family diversity would be a good start. Kids are 3 and 6 right now, but books for older kids are welcome too.

posted by Kpele to Grab Bag (10 answers total)

Erica Jong's Megan's Book of Divorce.
posted by brujita at 3:02 PM on March 1, 2016

The Invisible String happens in a household with a single mom (it never goes into whether she's divorced or widowed or whatever, it never comes up.) It's a lovely book about holding loved ones in our hearts when they're not physically present.

ETA: probably she is divorced, as they do mention loved ones in heaven and their dad doesn't come up, so I guess he's just out of the picture.
posted by fingersandtoes at 3:08 PM on March 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

Now that I think of it, the Five Little Monkeys series takes place in a single mom's household too. I don't recall there ever being a papa around.
posted by fingersandtoes at 3:09 PM on March 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

Dear Mr. Henshaw and Bud, Not Buddy were both phenomenal books I read as a kid. Both of them have divorced and/or absentee parents who weave in and out of the story, but it's very focused on the protagonists' adventures and finding their identities and interests.

I would check any of the Newbery Medal winner and nominated books, especially from a decade or two ago, a great number of them had children who had divorced or parents that weren't in the picture.
posted by yueliang at 3:19 PM on March 1, 2016

The only book I remember actually reading as a child and really enjoying, that I distinctly remember having divorced/separated parents, was Sport. His parents being divorced is the only reason the plot works, and the parents (especially the mom) don't come off very well at all. But I adored that book when I was maybe 8 or 9. And as a kid who at the time lived with her single dad, it really stuck with me - I don't think I'd ever seen a book with that POV before, where the mom hadn't simply been executed/disappeared because that's how Disney princesses always roll.

I feel constrained, of course, to point out that nearly every viewpoint character in the classic stories had a single parent, no parents, or an evil step parent.
posted by SMPA at 4:09 PM on March 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

These aren't exactly what you're looking for, but you might consider some of Todd Parr's books like The Family Book or The Mommy Book, or maybe Families, Families, Families by Suzanne Lang. These are all much more explicitly about diverse families than what you asked for but maybe the message about families coming in all varieties is more appealing than a story specifically about divorce.
posted by horses, of courses at 7:43 PM on March 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

I second the Todd Parr recommendation, especially The Family Book.
Other ideas: The little boy in Where the Wild Things Are has a single mom. Curious George
The Different Dragon - sweet storybook with 2 moms
This thread may give you some single dad ideas.
posted by areaperson at 7:53 PM on March 1, 2016

Lottie Paris Lives Here and Lottie Paris and the Best Place by Angela Johnson feature a little girl who lives with her father, Papa Pete. No mention of another parent.

Audrey's Tree House by Jenny Hughes also has the little girl-father dynamic.

Neither book is about the family structure and have other plots going on.
posted by carrioncomfort at 8:18 AM on March 2, 2016

In Sara Pennypacker’s Clementine books (which are just terrific), Clementine’s best friend’s parents are divorced--a fact that’s prominent in several of the books but never the main focus. Of the books my kid loved at 4-5, these were the ones we parents liked best.

These aren’t fiction and may be too on-the-nose for you, but the Robie Harris bodies / families books are also quite good about different shapes of families (two dads, kid lives with aunt or grandparents, adoption, etc.). For example: Who’s in My Family or It’s Not the Stork (or age-appropriate followup).

Thirding Todd Parr, too, though all the ones I’ve seen are aimed at younger kids & a 6yo might not be too interested.
posted by miles per flower at 9:58 AM on March 2, 2016

The Babysitters' Club has a spin-off called Babysitters Little Sister, featuring the younger step-sister of Kristy. Her parents are divorced and she spends time in each house, which is mentioned in passing but is rarely the focus of the book. Much older than three-year-old range but there are quite a few of them for when your kid is older.
posted by SeedStitch at 5:28 PM on March 2, 2016