Don't Make Me Smile

Barbara Park writes this book for children as well as adults. My daughter read it first and then suggested that I read it to her brother or give it to him to read. I read it to him and I'm so thankful to Barbara Park for the fun that we had reading her book. I am recently separated from my children's father and they haven't been very open to conversation about the divorce. This book gave us so many opportunities to discuss things or make comments about our situation. Whether your family is going through a divorce or not, I strongly urge you to read this with your children. My children and I are looking forward to Barbara Park's next book titled My Mother Got Married (And Other Disasters).

This book is actually one of the funniest I've ever read: "This must be it! I thought to myself as I ran to the door. Quickly, I pulled it open. There stood Hank. Hank is one of my mother's cousins. She has three of them. The other one is Hank." This book is funny enough for adults to be amused and never gets preachy or condescending. It's a good book to teach kids about divorce, also. Highly reccomended for any age!

This book deserves six stars! It was very funny. My favorite part was after the school program when Charles's mother came over to him and whispered to him that his zipper was down and when he saw the underwear all bunched up in his zipper! I like Barbara Park's books. She is today's funniest writers for children. I hope she keeps on writing.

When Charlie learns that his parents are getting a divorce, he won't take it lying down!! Never!! He'll do anything to get them back together. ANYTHING, including run away. This is a hilarious and heart-warming book about a boy's way of coping with divorce.