One of the greatest gifts of children's books is creating opportunities to talk about difficult subjects. Two recently published books could be a great help to young children who know someone with a drinking problem. When Someone in the Family Drinks Too Much and Daddy Doesn't Have to Be a Giant Anymore could be shared with children as young as five. I recommend these books for a child dealing with that specific issue, sharing them with children who don't have the problem could be confusing and upsetting.
Richard Langsen's When Someone in The Family Drinks Too Much is published by Dial Books. It's illustrated by Nicole Rubel whose drawings bring playfulness to this serious subject. Both illustrator and author make wise decisions in the way they present family drinking. Rubel illustrates the book with bear families, providing a distance that might help children handle discussions. Langsen presents the information in a non-fiction approach with a matter of fact voice. He begins with the basics, describing and defining an alcoholic. Then he spends the balance of the book dealing with feelings. He includes and explains alcoholic behaviors like mood swings and black outs. Then he moves on to discuss typical child responses like confusion, and denial, and the way children take on the roles of enabler, clown or rebel to help themselves survive the situation. Langsen ends with ways that children can take care of themselves. He's gifted at taking difficult psychological terms and presenting them in a way that's understandable to even younger children. Children in the positions he describes will certainly recognize themselves.
Jane Resh Thomas takes a story approach to alcoholism in Daddy Doesn't Have to Be a Giant Anymore, published by Clarion. We see through the eyes of a young girl who loves her father and mother until they argue about his drinking in "giant voices" which make dark shapes in her bedroom turn into witches and bears. Fortunately for this little girl, her parents get help and we watch while family and friends confront her father who decides to seek help and at the story's end returns. When he comes back he once again is aacting with the familiar behavior that his little girl loves. Illustrations by Marcia Sewall are sensitive and emotive.
Those who help families or families who are dealing with this difficult situation will appreciate these two books which show children that they are not alone and parents and children a way to begin talking about their thoughts and feelings.