Josiah's Dilemma

The language in this book is wonderfully simple and accessible for young children. Josiah is distressed to hear his parents arguing--it's scary and he imagines the worst possible outcome, but he doesn't know what to do about it. With the encouragement of friends and a healthy journaling habit, he's able to process his feelings and discuss them with his parents.

This is a very helpful story to give kids words to discuss things we often neglect to give them a vocabulary or toolkit for. This would be a great addition to school and classroom libraries, as well as the collections of school psychologists.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

My husband and I have healthy debates in front of our children and I am a firm believer that is important to normalize overcoming conflict in relationships. I love that this book just does that, and presents it in such a way that makes it easy for kids to understand.

Josiah’s Dilemma is a simple story about how a child may feel when their parents argue, and what they can do to manage those feelings. Josiah journaled how he felt, opened up to his friends about it, and decided to write a note to his parents about what he was feeling.

An amazing book. Simply telling the story of how Josiah deals with his parents loud arguing which upsets him. Gently, this story teaches readers to deal with their thoughts and feelings. Suggests actions which a child might take if they find themselves in this situation (or indeed other situations in their lives)

This is a very good book for elementary school-age children about parents arguing, and reassuring their child. Many couples do get divorced, and children worry that their own parents will divorce. This book gives the child some ideas of what to do, and is a good springboard for parents to open up a discussion with their children.