Two Homes
Age 5+
Picture Books Picture Storybooks
A comforting, reassuring and sensitive portrayal of divorce.
In this award-winning picture book classic about divorce, Alex has two homes – a home where Daddy lives and a home where Mummy lives. Alex has two front doors, two bedrooms and two very different favourite chairs. He has a toothbrush at Mummy's and a toothbrush at Daddy's. But whether Alex is with Mummy or Daddy, one thing stays the same: Alex is loved by them both – always. This gently reassuring story focuses on what is gained rather than what is lost when parents divorce, while the sensitive illustrations, depicting two unique homes in all their small details, firmly establish Alex’s place in both of them. Two Homes will help children – and parents – embrace even the most difficult of changes with an open and optimistic heart.
Creators
Claire Masurel is the author of numerous books for children, including Too Big, illustrated by Hanako Wakiyama, A Cat and a Dog and No Tito No!. She wrote Two Homes after talking to a child who was sad about her parents’ recent divorce. She says, "To comfort her, I talked about her two homes, and all the many things she could do in them. It was a positive way of helping her accept the changes in her life, focusing not on what was missed, but on the abundance of good times – and love – that she would continue to share with her mum and dad." Claire lives in France.
Kady MacDonald Denton is an award-winning illustrator, whose work includes A Child's Treasury of Nursery Rhymes', Til All the Stars Have Fallen: Canadian Poems for Children, Snow, written by Joan Clark, and, most recently, Bonny Becker's Mouse and Bear books. About this book, she says, "Alex talks about simple things like toothbrushes, bedrooms, and friends – and they are all special because they are part of the love Alex feels in both homes. I tried to show that love in the illustrations." She lives in Ontario, Canada with her husband. Find Kady online at www.kadymacdonalddenton.ca.
