Out In The Open

How have kid's books about divorce changed as its become more common?

We talk to three different authors of kids books about divorce from three different eras, to see how the kids book has changed, and how it should.
Children's books about divorce can help them understand how their lives will change after their parents separate. (Carissa Rogers )

Kathy Stinson, Sandra Levins, and Naseem Hrab have all written children's book about divorce. 

Kathy Stinson's book Mom and Dad Don't Live Together Anymore was published in 1984 and was written in response to Stinson's inability to find a book for kids about divorce that wasn't complicated or hard for children to understand. 

Cover of Mom and Dad Don't Live Together Anymore by Kathy Stinson

Was It The Chocolate Pudding?, by Sandra Levins, added a shot of humour to the children's divorce book. Her ultimate goal for the book was to show that life changes, that divorce is not the children's fault and that they still have two parents who love them. 

Naseem Hrab is in the process of writing Weekend Dad. Her goal is to shy away from the cheery outlook on divorce that kids books on the subject tend to have and offer a more realistic and more complex portrait of divorce for kids.

This story originally aired on November 5, 2016