Cooper and Me and the Military Review

Cooper and Me  is a series that was started by a young girl Alexa Peters, now 13, who loved to write and draw about her experiences as a way to express her feelings.
The Cooper and Me series grew out of Alexa's compassion for other kids. The mission of Cooper and Me is to entertain young children and help them navigate the challenges of everyday living. This book was inspired by family friends who were separated by deployment.

In Cooper and Me and the Military, the series characters Cooper and Bella meet up with Joe and Gracie, whose parents are soldiers serving overseas and their dog Trooper, an injured dog that the parents brought back from overseas. Gracie and Joe explain to Cooper and Bella that they are sad and missing their parents and Bella suggests writing them a letter and a care package with a stuffed Trooper to comfort the parents till they come home.

Ducky and Chicky loved this book. It opened up a conversation that I myself couldn't handle to bring up with the fear of confusing them or making them upset. In fact, this book was able to bring out feelings that I know Ducky has been bottling up for a while.

I love that this book also has a thank you letter to the troops and a website to send the to, as well as life lessons and discussion to help kids have an open conversation about family members going away for a period of time. They don't have to be deployed, it can work for any situation where a parent goes away for a period of time.

I would recommend this for any family who is dealing with a deployment or having a parent leave for a period of time. The illustrations are colorful and the book is very well written. I'm looking forward to seeing more the the Copper and Me series!