Beautifully illustrated by Adam Gordon, JESSICA'S TWO FAMILIES is about a six-year-old girl who is upset by her parents' divorce.  She lives with her mother, and sees her Dad on weekends.  Still angry about the divorce, she's further upset when her mother remarries and her stepfather sets new rules.  Then Jessica's dad marries a woman who has children of her own, and more new rules.

     With two more children in his life, Jessica's Dad can't spend as much time alone with her anymore   Her mother is preoccupied with her new husband.  Jessica feels alone.  With the help of her teacher and a family counselor, Brooke, Jessica learns how to talk about her feelings and what to do about them.  Both families are able to make adjustments so everyone can be happier. 

     JESSICA'S TWO FAMILIES aims to be an honest and compassionate story about children's feelings, parents' remarriages, and new family situations and dynamics.  It gives practical suggestions with TIPS FOR PARENTS and KIDS following the story.  I've based it on my experience as a psychotherapist, as the Clinical Director of a Youth Service Bureau Residential Treatment Center, and as a consultant to area Domestic Relations courts with regard to custody matters.

     Here's how it begins:

JESSICA'S TWO FAMILIES

     Daddy always tell how pruny and red I was the day I was born.  I wailed up a storm, louder than any other baby.  He put his State Champions baseball cap on me because I was the best crier in the hospital. 

     We all seemed to stick together like peanut butter and jelly.  Then my parents said they were betting a divorce.  I was very mad and very sad.  I became the champion crier in the world.

     Mommy was the first parent to get married again.  I wore a floppy hat and a blue princess dress when I was a flower girl in her wedding to Mike, my stepfather. 

     I did not want another daddy.  I wanted my own daddy back.  Now I only get to see Daddy on the weekends.

     I look just like my daddy.  Our big brown eyes are exactly the same.  We have the same dimple on our left ears.  Sometimes I felt very mad at my dad for moving away, though.