Supervisor of the child life program at Cleveland Clinic Foundation, McCue asserts that children are flexible, understanding, and deeply committed to helping even very sick parents. However, they need to know what's going on. Openness and honesty should be primary, argues McCue, not protective white lies. She offers strategies to prevent a sense of failure in children and to help them prepare for a very different future than they may have been led to expect. She also covers how to let helpful neighbors and relatives really help and gives advice on professional assistance. Given this breadth of topics, McCue's book can be read in its entirety or selectively.