Book: My Bonus Mom
Author: Tami Butcher
Published by: Little Five Star, a division of Five Star Publications, Inc.
Book Synopsis: (per Amazon.com)
In rhythmic verse, My Bonus Mom!, shows children of divorced families that a positive attitude can lead to a happy outcome and springs open their hearts and minds to accept their own bonus moms. It captures the mixed emotions that surge through young children as they deal with divorce and adjust to remarriage. The children work through their feelings of dismay, fear and anger, and grow to love dad’s new wife, whom they come to think of as their bonus mom. Twice the attention, twice the love, twice the fun and twice as many birthday presents! What’s not to love?
My Thoughts:
Scary fairy tales would not be complete without the Evil Stepmother. From that point stepmothers are continued to be feared in other genres as well. Portrayed as evil, gold diggers, immature, mean, or ditzy, they never seem to get a break. It would make any child wonder if it were at all possible to have a good stepmother. While divorce is unfortunate and sad for all involved and a subject a child need not be burdened with the truth is that it happens. In a world where the divorce rate is higher than the rate of those who stay married many children will find themselves faced with stepparents.
My Bonus Mom is a story about how a stepmother does not have to be an evil woman ready to lock you up in your room for not eating dinner. The book illustrates that a stepmother is just a person and not the evil witch you see in fairy tales. The intent of the book is to show a child faced with this situation that it is possible to have a positive relationship with a stepmother. The author knows this subject well as she has her own stepmom that she considers a bonus mom since their relationship is so special. She wants to encourage children going through a scary and confusing time that joy can be the outcome.