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The Kids’ Guide - Dealing With Death by Liz Gogerly
The Blurb On The Back:
You might want to read this book because someone you know has died. Or maybe you know someone who is grieving and want to help them.
This book contains practical, straightforward information and advice to help you to understand more about death and grieving.
Liz Gogerly is a former teacher with over 20 years of experience in writing non-fiction books for children. This is a thoughtful and sensitive book for readers aged 9+ (part of a series) about how to deal with death and grieving, including some of the practicalities (like funerals) and how to deal with your emotions while Scott Garrett’s illustrations are diverse and work well with the text.
I picked this up because I’d previously read 2 other books in this series - ANTI-RACISM by Arike Oke and DEALING WITH DIVORCE by Tim Collins - and been impressed with the way that they take complicated and very emotional topics and make the accessible and understandable for children. Gogerly very much continues in this vein. Sadly, the COVID pandemic in particular has meant that children have been exposed more to death than they perhaps otherwise have been and this book is a good way of discussing it with them and helping them to process it.
I liked the way that Gogerly starts the book by explaining what death is and why it happens because it is an obvious thing for young readers to want to know about and I also liked how she acknowledges that this book is as much for people grieving the death of a beloved animal as much as it is about grieving for a friend or relative. She is particularly good at examining the emotions that you can feel after a death and highlights how there is no ‘normal’ emotion to feel (and indeed it may be that you feel numb afterwards) and the kind of anxiety and loneliness that you can experience when grieving.
Gogerly discusses what happens at a funeral and also funeral customs for Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Sikhs and Christians (although it is a shame that the Buddhists got left out). There are a couple of fictionalised mini case studies about characters experiencing grief, which I think are very useful and above all there is an emphasis on talking about your feelings with someone you trust.
Scott Garrett’s illustrations all work well with the text and I liked the fact that he uses diversity in his illustrations, which helps to make clear that this is something that can affect anyone regardless of race or gender. My only criticism is that it would be good to see some people with disabilities illustrated as well.
At the end of the book are some resources that young readers can draw on to help deal with death, including some helplines and other books to read.
All in all, I thought this was a genuinely useful book and one that you should definitely consider checking out if you know a child who has recently had a bereavement.
The Verdict:
Liz Gogerly is a former teacher with over 20 years of experience in writing non-fiction books for children. This is a thoughtful and sensitive book for readers aged 9+ (part of a series) about how to deal with death and grieving, including some of the practicalities (like funerals) and how to deal with your emotions while Scott Garrett’s illustrations are diverse and work well with the text.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
You might want to read this book because someone you know has died. Or maybe you know someone who is grieving and want to help them.
This book contains practical, straightforward information and advice to help you to understand more about death and grieving.
Liz Gogerly is a former teacher with over 20 years of experience in writing non-fiction books for children. This is a thoughtful and sensitive book for readers aged 9+ (part of a series) about how to deal with death and grieving, including some of the practicalities (like funerals) and how to deal with your emotions while Scott Garrett’s illustrations are diverse and work well with the text.
I picked this up because I’d previously read 2 other books in this series - ANTI-RACISM by Arike Oke and DEALING WITH DIVORCE by Tim Collins - and been impressed with the way that they take complicated and very emotional topics and make the accessible and understandable for children. Gogerly very much continues in this vein. Sadly, the COVID pandemic in particular has meant that children have been exposed more to death than they perhaps otherwise have been and this book is a good way of discussing it with them and helping them to process it.
I liked the way that Gogerly starts the book by explaining what death is and why it happens because it is an obvious thing for young readers to want to know about and I also liked how she acknowledges that this book is as much for people grieving the death of a beloved animal as much as it is about grieving for a friend or relative. She is particularly good at examining the emotions that you can feel after a death and highlights how there is no ‘normal’ emotion to feel (and indeed it may be that you feel numb afterwards) and the kind of anxiety and loneliness that you can experience when grieving.
Gogerly discusses what happens at a funeral and also funeral customs for Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Sikhs and Christians (although it is a shame that the Buddhists got left out). There are a couple of fictionalised mini case studies about characters experiencing grief, which I think are very useful and above all there is an emphasis on talking about your feelings with someone you trust.
Scott Garrett’s illustrations all work well with the text and I liked the fact that he uses diversity in his illustrations, which helps to make clear that this is something that can affect anyone regardless of race or gender. My only criticism is that it would be good to see some people with disabilities illustrated as well.
At the end of the book are some resources that young readers can draw on to help deal with death, including some helplines and other books to read.
All in all, I thought this was a genuinely useful book and one that you should definitely consider checking out if you know a child who has recently had a bereavement.
The Verdict:
Liz Gogerly is a former teacher with over 20 years of experience in writing non-fiction books for children. This is a thoughtful and sensitive book for readers aged 9+ (part of a series) about how to deal with death and grieving, including some of the practicalities (like funerals) and how to deal with your emotions while Scott Garrett’s illustrations are diverse and work well with the text.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.