My Mommy Wears Combat Books

By Sharon G. McBride

AuthorHouse – 2008 – $5.99

www.AuthorHouse.com

ISBN:  978-1-4343-5164-7

Reviewed by Claudia Pemberton

Sharon McBride’s “My Mommy Wears Combat Boots” is not only an invaluable educational tool for parents who happen to be soldiers, but a delightful learning experience for their children as well.  With many thousands of female soldiers having served in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is certainly an appropriate time for the release of this book.  Due to the lack of similar books on this subject, I’m sure it will quickly become a welcome resource for parents and families of deploying mothers. 

“My Mommy Wears Combat Boots” is a delightful explanation of why Mommy has to sometimes go off to war, and the resulting emotional conflict it can create for her children, or in this case, a little girl bear cub.  It is written on an emotional level that children will readily understand, and runs the gamut of the typical feelings that a child would experience during separation.  Ms. McBride addresses the appropriate emotions, and although she reinforces that these feelings are normal, bad behavior in response to them, is not.

It is evident to the reader that Ms. McBride draws on personal experience with her own child as she breaks down each emotional difficulty individually, and then summarizes them at the end. 

The illustrations of the Momma bear and her cub are colorful and captivating.  The depictions follow the story perfectly allowing the child to follow along and watch the story unfold as they listen to it being be read. 

I highly recommend this charming and educational children’s book to anyone (whether it be the mother, father, or extended family member of a deploying soldier) faced with the difficult task of explaining to the little ones why mommy has to go to war.