In The Ring Bear, a picture book by Tigard resident David Michael Slater (Flashlight Press, 2004), a single mother and her son, Westley, love to play rascally pirates. Like many single parents and their kids, its clear the mom and her son are incredibly close: Theyve created their own fantasy world about Westley the Wicked and Mom the Mean.

Enter Stan, Moms boyfriend, who sometimes comes aboard their ship but refuses to wear an eye patch and doesnt want to search for stowaways. Westley thinks its okay if Stan comes on board, as long as he understands hes a visitor, not a real pirate like Mom and Westley.

When Mom tells Westley that shes going to marry Stan and wants him to be the ring bearer at the wedding, Westley staggers back to his pretend ship. He mistakenly thinks Mom said she wants him to be the ring bear. Imaginative Westley assumes the role of Ring Bear and acts out his confused feelings about his moms marriage. He snatches out of Stans hands flowers meant for his mom; he pounces on Stan and Mom when theyre watching TV; he hides in his bear cave and plots ways to wreck the wedding.

In this warm and beautifully illustrated book, children get a realistic look at how it feels to have a parent re-marry. Westley knows his mom loves him; but what about Stan?

Slater, author of Cheese Louise! and a seventh grade language arts teacher, does a great job of engaging both adults and children with this humorous book. The Ring Bear, like most picture books, ends happily: Stan dons an eye patch during the wedding, then Mom, Westley and Stan sail off together. While the happy ending may not reflect the cold realities of early stepfamily life, it will give stepchildren hope about the potential for feeling loved and accepted by a new stepparent.