Oh Brother!

Review also includes:

Chemotherapy, Cakes and Cancer, INFORMATION STORY, ***, Megan Blunt, ill. Chris Burke, CLIC Sargent, 40pp, free

Occasionally charities produce booklets aimed at children with specific needs. These are two good ones.

Oh Brother! Introduces us to Tom, a 10-year-old, whose parents are adopting a second child. We hear about their home study and something about Tom’s doubts, though he is looking forward to a new sibling. And then Billy arrives. He isn’t at all what Tom had hoped for. A 6-year-old with attitude problems, Billy is very difficult indeed, and adept at manipulation. It is months before there is any hope of his settling. When he finally breaks down and begins to talk about himself and his problems, there is hope for the future while it is also clear that there will be no easy answers. Told by Tom, the story is very honest about his feelings and about how the adoption of a damaged child takes infinite patience and perseverance. The book is available from the Adoption UK website: www.adoptionuk.org

Chemotherapy, Cakes and Cancer  by 14-year-old Megan Blunt is partly an A to Z of facts and terms about cancer and its treatment and partly her own experience of being diagnosed and treated for bone cancer. Chatty and informative, it is also positive in outlook and gives lots of good advice, which will be more easily taken from another young person. Lively cartoon-style illustrations add greatly to the whole. The booklet is free from the Child Cancer Helpline: 0800 197 0068.