I’m Lucky To Have My Parents by Radostina Nikolova & Yana Popova

What a moving, necessary book. I fully admit that I’m not terribly cognizant of the existing literature on the topic in the English language, but I’m super glad that Papercutz had this translated from the original Bulgarian (courtesy of Borislava Pancheva) in order to reach a wider audience.

That topic is how kids can deal with parents who no longer want to be married to each other and who, indeed, go on to start new families with other people. The book begins simply enough with a young girl enjoying spending time with each of her parents, who have their strengths and weaknesses but who nonetheless love their daughter with all their hearts. Their child narrates how sometimes her parents get along, but more often don’t. She does her best to bridge the gap between them, and is heartbroken when that isn’t enough to keep them together.

Their separation makes her sad and angry, and has her questioning why they can’t all be happy again together. Mom does her best to explain that sometimes people want different things, but it doesn’t mean that they don’t love their daughter very much. More importantly, Mom tells her that it’s okay to feel all her feelings and to express them.

And soon our narrator does find herself experiencing happiness again, as her parents move on from one another but always, always ensure that their daughter knows that she is loved and supported, no matter how their family changes and grows. It’s a very important lesson, not only for kids but for parents who might need reminding that kids are people in their own right, not just vestiges of former partners and relationships. Don’t even get me started on people who leave kids behind when they split up. As Cher’s dad said in Clueless, one of the best movies ever, “You divorce wives, not children.”

Yana Popova’s art is thoroughly charming and perfectly suited for the subject. From the adorable, expressive characters to the beautifully textured backgrounds, it feels like not a single detail was overlooked while illustrating this book. Particularly moving was the way she depicted the narrator’s sadness, switching to black and white when the young girl was dealing with the immediate aftermath of her parents’ split. It’s actually the art that helps paper over what I felt was the book’s only jarring transition, when you discover that the father has moved on. It feels alarmingly quick to the adult reader, but continuing with the book shows that a not abnormal amount of time has indeed elapsed. And in fairness, there are really only so many pages one can reasonably expect of a kids’ picture book.

I’m Lucky To Have My Parents is a perfect book for kids and parents needing to tackle an often fraught topic. Radostina Nikolova approaches the subject in an accessible fashion that will hopefully help foster stronger ties between parent and child, even when said parents are splitting up and entering new romantic relationships. Life happens, but the way we approach hard topics really matters. Books like these help make difficult situations and conversations easier to navigate by providing healthy roadmaps for everyone involved.

I’m Lucky To Have My Parents by Radostina Nikolova & Yana Popova was published January 14 2025 by Papercutz and is available from all good booksellers, including