Tellitbooks.com - a place for the other stories children live
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Mother Bunny and the Bad Plants
By Elise Bowditch, Illustrated by Laura Eyring
A book for young children who live with their grandparents due to parental drug addiction.
Available as a soft-cover book at Amazon.com.
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About 8 million children in the USA live with their grandparents or other relatives.
Most of them live there because their parents have drug problems.
Most of them arrive at grandma and grandpa’s home when they are very young.
This book is for them.
The story is about a young rabbit whose mother discovers “bad plants”.
She likes the plants so much that she forgets how to be a mother bunny –
and the little rabbit finds way to send for help from his grandparents.
The grandparents see that Mother Bunny gets treatment (she goes to the “bunny hospital”)
and the story ends on a happy note.
In between, through the character of Little Bunny,
the story explores the feelings that a young child has in this situation:
relief, anger, sadness, hope and how much he misses his mother.
The story is based on my own and other families' stories.
I have personal experience of this topic through caring for my
great-grandson. At the time, I looked for books appropriate for the child's age
that would tell his story, or a story – some story – like his,
but didn't find any. There are great resources for older children
about addiction, and wonderful books about emotions in general,
but none that reflected his experiences at his age level.
So I wrote this book for him and all the small children
who have lost their mothers to drugs for a while
and have to live somewhere else.
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When we moved to Philadelphia he went to live with his grandmother
(our daughter) in Texas. His mother has been clean for several years,
and we are very proud of how she has turned her life around!
She expects to bring him home in the near future. And yes,
he looks forward to reuniting with his Mom!
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Laura Eyring, a children’s book illustrator in Philadelphia,
created the watercolor illustrations.
We chose to use soft, monochromatic tones so the illustrations
would support and reflect the story in an appealing, gentle way.
We used colors to match the mood of the scene.
Some of the illustrations are shown below. You can see more of her art at:
https://laura-eyring.squarespace.com/
Some of my other favorite books for small children experiencing trauma:
All books are available through
Amazon.
| Title |
Author |
Description |
| Why is Dad So Mad? and/or Why is Mom so Mad? |
Seth Kastle (Author), Karissa Gonzalez-Othon (Illustrator) |
A book for families coping with PTSD after military service. |
| The Night Dad Went to Jail |
Melissa Higgins (Author), Wednesday Kirwan (Illustrator) |
A book to help kids through the confusion when a parent goes to jail. |
| A Terrible Thing Happened |
Margaret M. Holmes (Author), Sasha J. Mudlaff (Author), Cary Pillo (Illustrator) |
A book to help children who have experienced trauma understand their feelings. |
| Today I Feel Silly: And Other Moods That Make My Day |
Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell |
A great general book about feelings. |
I have not read these (yet) but they look promising:
| Title |
Author |
Description |
| Jenny Is Scared: When Sad Things Happen in the World |
Carol Shuman (Author), Cary Pillo (Illustrator) |
A book that handle the fear of threats in the world. |
| Sam Feels Better Now! an Interactive Story for Children |
Jill Osborne (Author), Kevin Collier (Illustrator) |
Another book for children who have experienced trauma. |
Two bibliographies:
Books for Children Dealing With Loss
Books About Trauma & Violence for Young Children
