Delightful Picture of a Broken Heart

Dash’s Broken Heart
A children’s book about coping with divorce
By Dr. Josephine Whalen

Self-published

Rating: *** (3 stars)

 Review by Laura Harting

Dash is a rabbit whose Dad moves out and his mom and dad divorce.  Dash has a broken heart and sometimes feels so sad that he does not feel like playing.  He wonders how it could be that his dad still loves him.  However, after spending time at his dad’s new place, he begins to feel loved by Dad and realizes that his parents still love him.

I love the illustrations in this book and I love even more that the book is illustrated by a 10-year-old child. I especially love the illustration of the x-ray of Dash’s broken heart.

This book is written for the preschool and early elementary aged child.  There are two sentences on each page and each page rhymes.  There are a few places where the rhyming is forced and therefore could make it difficult for a young child to grasp the meaning.  Though I like the two sentences on each page, I am not fond of the rhyming theme in this book.  I think the book could better address the feelings and concerns that a young child faces when parents divorce without the rhyming. I also miss any mention of Dash’s mom in the book. I wondered why she is not mentioned and I think young readers will wonder about that also.

The poem at the very end, after the story is finished, is written by a 12-year-old child and it is lovely.

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Laura Harting, LCSW, sees young clients at her private practice in Paoli, Pennsylvania.