Ser Bk Squabbles

I read the Serendipity books to my own children when they were little and am now excited to see the re-issue of these books in time for my grandchildren to enjoy them. Squabbles is a little different than most of the Serendipity series but it covers a very important subject in a way that makes it more approachable and easier to discuss with young children, not always an easy task with the subject of abuse. I'm so excited and having a hard time choosing which books I will purchase as Christmas gifts but Squabbles will definitely stay on my list. Fantasy is fun and a wonderful way to stimulate young minds but the reality is that this happens in families and children need to be prepared for the reality of how to deal with friends who are hurting.

I strongly disagree with the above review. The reviewer's experience may be a lesson to parents to skim a gift book themselves, before reading it to a child. Sometimes a popular writer, who usually writes "fluffy" books will feel strongly enough about a social issue that they write a more serious book. Robert Munsch co-wrote a book about a young girl refuge from war-torn Lebanan who was terrified by Halloween, because it reminded her of the guns and death in her home country. It is scary enough that I keep it in our school library's LIFE ISSUES section (which includes puberty, death, divorce, family problems, disabilities, and war). Older children and parents can find these books when they need them. Eve Bunting has also written books that are just "fun" (like Sunflower House, or Mother's Day Mice) but she has also written about the Vietnam Veterans'Wall, the Watts riots (Smoky Night),and about homeless people (December). Before I became a Librarian 13 years ago, I was a social worker for 20 years, and worked with battered women and their children, and with abused children. Sometimes a book is helpful to an adult or a child, to see that they are not the only ones in this situation. That is why I do have the book "Squabbles" in our library, in case a family needs it, to facilitate talking about the problem. My only concern about the book is that it shows the father back with his family, after learning how to handle his anger. That is not possible for a lot of families, in which the abuser may not be willing to change, and the mother must make a new start as a single parent. However, on the good side, the book shows the rabbit father taking strong action to protect the raccoon wife and child, showing community support for the victims. As for the "lying" about the bruises, victims of violence often do so, not because they don't care about telling the truth, but because they have learned to hide and cover up the violence, so they will not make the abuser angry, and get beaten for "telling" on the abuser. It is a survival skill, needed until they are safe.