View source for Every Second Friday by Kiri Lightfoot and Ben Galbraith

{{infobox2 
|title= Every Second Friday
|author= Kiri Lightfoot and Ben Galbraith
|reviewer= Sue Magee
|genre=For Sharing 
|summary= A light-hearted look at how a family copes when the parents separate.  It's a joy to read aloud and might be just what a child caught up in this situation needs.
|rating=4 
|buy= Maybe
|borrow= Yes
|pages=32 
|publisher= Hodder Children's Books
|date= September 2008
|isbn=978-0340956120 
|aznuk=0340956127
|aznus=0340956127
|cover=0340956127
}}

Every Second Friday Margi (our narrator) aged six and a half and her brother, Totty, who is all of four and three quarters, pack their bags and Mum drives them over to stay with their Dad.  They need to take extra clothes with them as once there they will get dirty.  In fact they'll be:

''magnificently muddy, worryingly wet and mind-blowingly messy.''

Dad is a collector whose house is chock-a-block full of fun things to play with.  In fact there's so much stuff there that it's sometimes hard to find the people!  But whilst they're there they're going to have fun dressing up, having picnics and parties.  When they're tired Dad tucks them up in bed and tells them how much fun he's had and how special they are to him.

Unfortunately it's increasingly common these days for children to be 'shared' between their parents, spending alternate weekends with Mum and Dad.  For all the people caught up in this situation – parents and children alike – it's heartbreaking and confusing.  Parents (and it's so often Dad) don't stop loving their children because they no longer live with them and children still need to have a relationship with both parents even if they no longer live together.

''Every Second Friday'' is a light-hearted and reassuring look at the way in which one family copes with this situation.  It's based on Kiri Lightfoot's own childhood experiences when her parents separated.  I doubt that the book would have a wider appeal – and might even be slightly worrying to some children – but for any child who is in this situation this could be just the reassurance that they need.  Their parents will still love them and they will still be able to have fun with both of them.

The text is wonderfully easy to read – and a joy to read aloud.  Illustrations by Ben Galbraith are quirky and fun – there's plenty to see on each page and you'll find something new every time you look at a page.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending this book to The Bookbag.

For other books for children which looks at what happens when parents separate we can recommend [[Molly and her Dad by Jan Ormerod and Carol Thompson]] and [[Mum and Dad Glue by Kes Gray and Lee Wildish]].

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