"If you are protected from dark things..."
April 18, 2016 4:22 PM Subscribe
Despite the title, this is a list of books for people of any age, rather than just children. And the subject is personal loss rather than specifically the death of a loved one. Consolation for Life’s Darkest Hours: 7 Unusual and Wonderful Books that Help Children Grieve and Make Sense of Death.
Also includes
1. Beautiful illustration excerpts,
2. Wicked humor (seeThe Flat Rabbit) as well as
3. Maurice Sendak.
Also includes
1. Beautiful illustration excerpts,
2. Wicked humor (seeThe Flat Rabbit) as well as
3. Maurice Sendak.
I haven't seen any of these before (but will look for them now.) But I do have one to add to the list... Lifetimes: the Beautiful Way to Explain Death to Children.
I haven't had the courage to read it to my own children yet, but I bought it and have read it several times myself. I find the lovely illustrations combined with the matter of fact explanations about how long birds and butterflies live really comforting. The clear implication is that the brevity of their lives doesn't make them any less beautiful or valuable. And humans don't live as long as trees, but we are amazing anyway... Whether our lives are short or long.
posted by OnceUponATime at 4:54 PM on April 18, 2016
I haven't had the courage to read it to my own children yet, but I bought it and have read it several times myself. I find the lovely illustrations combined with the matter of fact explanations about how long birds and butterflies live really comforting. The clear implication is that the brevity of their lives doesn't make them any less beautiful or valuable. And humans don't live as long as trees, but we are amazing anyway... Whether our lives are short or long.
posted by OnceUponATime at 4:54 PM on April 18, 2016
The one we have is the classic: Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs.
posted by selfnoise at 5:07 PM on April 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by selfnoise at 5:07 PM on April 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
There's also The Tenth Good Thing About Barney, and CHARLOTTE's WEB.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:30 PM on April 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:30 PM on April 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
What emerges is the elegant sidewise assurance that while grief never fully leaves us, we can be okay — more than that, in the words of Rilke, we can arrive at the difficult but transformative understanding that “death is our friend precisely because it brings us into absolute and passionate presence with all that is here, that is natural, that is love.”
Well, it would be lovely to think so. But, as someone who lost a parent in childhood, I'd recommend laying off this kind of bullshit about Mom being absorbed into the Absolute or whatever, at least until a kid comes up with it themselves. Children in this situation need to grieve a real loss, not be told that it "really" is an illusion.
posted by thelonius at 5:45 PM on April 18, 2016 [5 favorites]
Well, it would be lovely to think so. But, as someone who lost a parent in childhood, I'd recommend laying off this kind of bullshit about Mom being absorbed into the Absolute or whatever, at least until a kid comes up with it themselves. Children in this situation need to grieve a real loss, not be told that it "really" is an illusion.
posted by thelonius at 5:45 PM on April 18, 2016 [5 favorites]
Children in this situation need to grieve a real loss, not be told that it "really" is an illusion.
This. "Dad's in heaven" was not helpful. It's been 45 years, and I still look for him when I'm in a crowd.
posted by Billiken at 7:52 AM on April 19, 2016 [3 favorites]
This. "Dad's in heaven" was not helpful. It's been 45 years, and I still look for him when I'm in a crowd.
posted by Billiken at 7:52 AM on April 19, 2016 [3 favorites]
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posted by Countess Elena at 4:51 PM on April 18, 2016 [2 favorites]