Where is Daddy?

By Beth Goff

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0807023884
• ISBN13: 9780807023884
• Release Date: January 1985
• Publisher: Beacon Press (MA)
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Age Range: 4 years and up
• Grade Range: Preschool and higher

Customer Reviews

Eek!

This is a really wrenching book, and while it's written in simple language, I can't give it a blanket recommendation for all pre-schoolers-- which is to say, children the age of the protagonist. I suppose children actually facing parental divorce might find the book cathartic, and in particular children who haven't been able to give voice to their feelings might find some of the words they need in this book; however, I'd worry that children not facing divorce might find the book needlessly frightening. This isn't a neutral book to explain the concept of divorce to children who just need the concept defined because they see it on TV and in the families of their friends. In fact, the book never really does define divorce, since the book is about a pre-schooler's emotional experience of it, and it maintains this narrow focus. I suspect that the author may have actually intended the book for divorcing parents as much as for their small children, because at its heart, the book is a plea to remember the child's perspective-- her perspective, not merely her feelings. Pre-schoolers with their limited vocabulary don't differentiate much between the expression of grief and of anger, and the protagonist demonstrates exactly this, to the great confusion of the adults around her. Beth Goff has a profound understanding of a preschooler's mindset, and lets the reader see so clearly what the adults in the book miss. By misreading the little girl's emotions, they fail to allow her to feel safe in expressing them. Only when they finally come to understand what she is trying to express does she begin to reconcile herself to the reality of the divorce. Painful as it will be, I would like every divorcing parent with a small child to read this.