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How To Fix Your Parents

Name: How To Fix Your Parents
Author: Terri Tatchell

by Terri Tatchell ; illustrated by Tina Perko ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

A loving guide for the whole family to preserve joy.

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Tatchell’s picture book takes a silly-but-serious approach to self-care.

Sometimes, a child is best equipped to put a smile on a parent’s face. In this whimsical volume, the author provides a dozen methods for children to cheer up their often stressed and overscheduled parents. Each is simple but effective, cleverly echoing advice that is perfect for kids, too. The first is to play a beloved game, the second is to take a nap together, and the third is to take a walk outside. These wholesome prompts for entertainment, rest, and real-life engagement are complemented by subsequent suggestions to practice gratitude, set healthy boundaries, and indulge in make-believe. Sometimes, all it takes to banish the “yuckies” is a little goofiness: “If there’s one skill that children share, / it’s letting sillies loose. / A silly dance or silly song, / or full-on SILLY GOOSE.” Limiting screentime, celebrating small victories, and, most importantly, telling your parents you love them are all easy, actionable healing practices that Tatchell recommends to her readers. The jaunty, Seuss-like rhymes of the text mirror the lightheartedness that the author encourages. Perko’s illustrations feature soft, calming tones but maintain the text’s playful spirit by including not only a parent and a child (who are depicted as white) engaging in each activity but also pairs of parent-and-child cats and dogs.

A loving guide for the whole family to preserve joy.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2025

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
AXOLOTL, WHERE'S YOUR TOE?
by Terri Tatchell ; illustrated by Ivan Sulima

- BOOK REVIEW
MONKEY-HOUSE MOUSE MAKES A (TOTALLY NOT SCARY) BOOK
by Terri Tatchell ; illustrated by Tina Perko

- BOOK REVIEW
TARSIER SINGS HIS SONG
by Terri Tatchell ; illustrated by Ivan Sulima

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: June 21, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
A PERFECT PLACE TO PLAY
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Jim Valeri

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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THE CRAYONS GO BACK TO SCHOOL

by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 16, 2023

Nothing new here but a nonetheless congenial matriculant in publishing’s autumnal rite of back-to-school offerings.

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The Crayons head back to class in this latest series entry.

Daywalt’s expository text lays out the basics as various Crayons wave goodbye to the beach, choose a first-day outfit, greet old friends, and make new ones. As in previous outings, the perennially droll illustrations and hand-lettered Crayon-speak drive the humor. The ever wrapperless Peach, opining, “What am I going to wear?” surveys three options: top hat and tails, a chef’s toque and apron, and a Santa suit. New friends Chunky Toddler Crayon (who’s missing a bite-sized bit of their blue point) and Husky Toddler Crayon speculate excitedly on their common last name: “I wonder if we’re related!” White Crayon, all but disappearing against the page’s copious white space, sits cross-legged reading a copy of H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man. And Yellow and Orange, notable for their previous existential argument about the color of the sun, find agreement in science class: Jupiter, clearly, is yellow AND orange. Everybody’s excited about art class—“Even if they make a mess. Actually…ESPECIALLY if they make a mess!” Here, a spread of crayoned doodles of butterflies, hearts, and stars is followed by one with fulsome scribbles. Fans of previous outings will spot cameos from Glow in the Dark and yellow-caped Esteban (the Crayon formerly known as Pea Green). (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Nothing new here but a nonetheless congenial matriculant in publishing’s autumnal rite of back-to-school offerings. (Picture book. 4-6)