Books with lone parents

[blackhorses]

I'm a single parent to a 4 year old and a 2 year old who see their dad eow for one only without much contact in between (his choice).

I'm looking for some books for them for Christmas which show single parent families as the norm.

Ideally I'm looking for something where the being a single parent is just the background and not the centre of the story - eg if peppa pig or topsy and tim just had one parent/went back and forwards between the houses. Rather than a story about parents splitting up if that makes sense?

The only one which we've got at the moment is Princess Grace which is fab - I can't seem to find any others online. . . .has anyone got anything like this which you can recommend?

"for one night only" that should say - sorry about the typo!

Watching with interest, I always think our family isn't represented as normal either. My son asked me why Peppa and George have a Mum and a Dad when he was small, I said "you do too" but he wasn't having it because his Dad isn't here he goes to him.

I was going to say Jacqueline Wilson but your DC are a little young for her yet!

All of the Harry and his bucketful of dinosaurs books have Harry and his sister living with their mum and Nan lives with them too, no Dad in the picture. They're great books that all three of mine loved.

Following because I could do with some of these too

Interesting idea.

Watching with interest. Much as i love Alfie and Annie Rose etc and their christmas book, they do idealise the two parent setup.

There's a series of books with a boy called Albie whose mum appears ocassionaly, but no dad ever seen or mentioned. Can't remember the author, but one of the books is How to Catch a Dragon. No Matter What by Debbie Gliore is a lovely book, one of my favourites. Single parent fox (not clear whether mum or dad?) and child. Guess How Much I Love You, also single parent with child. All those only have one child though.

A few Roald Dahl books have different kinds of families...Danny the Champion of the World, lives with his dad (mum died, so potential issues there), BFG's Sophie is an orphan. I'm single parent to DS who's 6 and consciously bought books with single parent families in for a while. I like the Roald Dahl ones too to show him that all kinds of families exist.

I'm sure I've got more on the shelves but just can't remember them now...will come back if I think of any.

I used to teach EYFS and we had 'Yoko' by Rosemary Wells which is about a little girl of Japanese heritage who brings in sushi for her school lunch. We used it to talk about cultural differences/diversity, but the little girl lives with her mum and I don't recall there being a mention of a dad figure at all. I think it might be part of a series as I'm pretty sure we had another one at school which was about how she used to live with her grandparents in Japan before moving away with her mum... or something like that!

Yes! This became a concern for me after break-up.

When my DD was really little, I often changed the story if a dad appeared - I'd change them to mummy's friend/ neighbour/ an uncle.

Ive found lots of books about mummies that don't include any mention of dad - The Mummy Shop, Superhero Mum, My Mummy is Beautiful, Do You Love Me? - there are loads.

In addition to the books mentioned by others above, I like Charlie and Lola (their mum and dad are pretty invisible and rarely mentioned), Bing bunny (all the families seem to be single parents).

When your kids are a little older, The Worst Witch books and Daisy The Trouble With... books both have a main character whose mum is single. (Daisy's The Trouble with...Life mentions that dad died. We love the Daisy books, particularly that her single mum is occasionally exhausted and grumpy LOL). Lots of books by Jacqueline Wilson feature single parents...

And. There are loads of brilliant characters where parents don't feature at all - Winnie the Witch lives with her cat, Noddy seems to be an orphan etc etc etc

When my DD was really little, I often changed the story if a dad appeared - I'd change them to mummy's friend/ neighbour/ an uncle.

I did this

Cbeebies was the worst at the time, there was nothing I don't know if it's ant better now.

Slightly different but when my daughter was little she loved this book, a friend bought it for me for Mother’s Day when I had no one and we still have. She is now a teen. www.amazon.co.uk/Mummy-Love-You-Lida-Wyatt/dp/0993331912?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Thank you so much everyone for the suggestions.

Harry and his bucketfull of dinosaurs is a definite win for the two year old who is dinosaur obsessed at the moment so I'll get a couple of those for his stocking.

I'll have a think for the older one. Lots of those are absolutely lovely and I think she would enjoy them. But whilst many of them are about mum or only show one parent in the story, which could work, none of them quite show living with mum and visits to dad type scenario in action which is what I was hoping to find. Odd that it doesn't seem to exist in print when so many children live in this way now - maybe it's a gap in the market if any writers are reading this???!!

Thanks as well for the suggestions of Roald Dahl, Worst Witch etc - I am really looking forward to those type of books so I think they might be on the list for next year!

Any other suggestions very gratefully received!

@Anotheruser02 @bluebunny123 @RuffleCrow

If you're looking for the same thing try Princess Grace by Mary Hoffman (this is the one we already have) which mentions in passing that her daddy doesn't live with her and then later in the story she rings him and his wife to ask a questions. Also gets a thumbs up in our house for being strongly feminist too!

I think there’s a lot more of it at an older age - when your DC are ready for chapter books it’s definitely easier to find this represented. But at picture book age, parents aren’t really the main characters in any story so it just doesn’t feature.

Yes I think you might be right.

I'm a passionate believer about the power of books to get in their brains so there absolutely should be books that reflect their worlds at all ages.

Well. . . .passionate enough to moan about it on the internet but not passionate enough to write the books myself if I'm honest!

Might be a bit young, but try this author

Going Swimming www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1847804705/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Nsc4DbF108QK3?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Gosh I'd never thought about this - we have approximately a billion picture books but I can't think of one, but I do remember I had as a child - about a family who adopted a pig - the family was a dad and two kids, no mum, which was never mentioned it was just how it was. It's obviously unusual as it stuck in my memory. I think my mum still has it. I think it was called Runtle the pig (Swedish author) - I've just searched on amazon but no joy.

Found it second hand!
Runtle the pig

CottonSock yes, all her books are fabulous, particularly the 'doing' and 'going' books.

There’s tons of picture books with just dads, just mums, etc. It’s just that as part of a picture book story there’s often not room or need for the characters to move between Mum & Dad’s houses - unless you made it the main thrust of the narrative. Which has its own vaguely preachy overtones - and there are a lot of books that deal with ‘different families/different homes’ which do that, I think.

Interesting, though!

Watching. Great idea!

The Sarah Garland books "Eddie's garden" and "Eddie's kitchen" are LOVELY and are just a mum with two children. (in "Eddie's toolbox" she starts a sweet romance with the next door neighbour)

The best ever single parent is dad on Danny Champion of the world.
Not a mum sadly but I love the book.

Jacqueline Wilson of course good for all sorts as they get older.

"We are wearing out the naughty step" by Mick Inkpen.
The mum has a boyfriend arrive at the end of the story but it's easy to stop at the page before.