My Parents Are Divorced, My Elbows Have Nicknames, and Other Facts about Me

My Parents Are Divorced, My Elbows Have Nicknames, and Other Facts About Me Ted's parents are divorced, but that doesn't mean he's weird. Instead, there are a lot of other reasons that he's weird. Like the fact that his elbows are nicknamed Clyde and Carl, or that he sometimes answers the phone and pretends to be a chicken, or that he wears a cape a lot even when it's not Halloween. Sometimes he makes soap Mohawks with his hair in the tub and then walks around the house like that. He's done it at his mom's house and at his dad's house, and they both think it's a little weird. Ted also tells us a lot of other things about his life, especially his life with divorced parents. Like how it bums him out when he has to leave one house to go to the other, or how he didn't like his new stepmom at first, or how his parents both come to his soccer games but never stand together. He even tells us how bad it was the day his parents sat him down to tell him about the divorce, how he still thinks about the divorce, and how it still hurts every night. But that's not the part of his life that's weird, that's just the way his life is. My Parents are Divorced deals honestly with very emotionally painful issues, but it also sends the very important message that children in divorced families should not feel defined by the fact that their parents are divorced. There are lots of other things that give each of them a unique identity - or a weird identity, in Ted's case - that have nothing to do with what their family is like. In the same vein, both of Ted's parents are depicted as whole people with their own distinct personalities, including dad's mastery of making yummy burritos and his skill at helping with Ted's math homework. Despite the sobering subject matter, My Parents are Divorced ends on a positive note that encourages children to feel good about themselves no matter what their families are like - or how weird they are.

[...] I was a little bit skeptical about this book when I first read the title, but Ted is a winsome character whose parents happen to be divorced and he tells the matter-of-fact changes that occur because they are no longer togehter. Sprinkled with humor and a boy's perspective, Ted manages to stay true to himself and make peace with the change in his life. [...]

Reviewed by Cayden Aures (age 4-1/2) and Mom for Reader Views (2/09) "My Parents are Divorced, My Elbows Have Nicknames, and Other Facts about Me" is about a boy named Ted whose parents are divorced. The fact that his parents are divorced is not the only thing that defines him though. He does a lot of strange things like squawk like a chicken when he answers the phone and he also eats spaghetti sauce straight out of the jar. Cayden: "I didn't know what `divorce' meant until we read this book. I think the boy gets sad when he has to go from one house to the other. He is really funny though. My favorite part was when he put soap in his hair and ran around with a Mohawk. It was weird that he calls his elbows names. He did some weird things!" Parent's comments: "My Parents are Divorced, My Elbows Have Nicknames, and Other Facts about Me" by Bill Cochran is a wonderful book to teach children about divorce. It is nice that there is an element of humor incorporated into the book so that it is not completely business-like and serious. It addresses the topic of divorce in an appropriate manner, but the antics of Ted will have your children laughing out loud!