The gentle Mog books by Judith Kerr have always been favourites in our family. (See the wonderful animation on yesterday's post.)
Goodbye Mog however, came as a bit of a shock! Mog dies, and we, the adults who buy the books and read them to our children didn't know quite how to take it. (The reviews on Amazon are quite interesting!)
How to talk about death with children is clearly difficult, and I was a bit concerned at the analogy with being very very tired and with sleeping, worried that it might trouble a child who hears us say we are tired, or that they might fear going to sleep themselves.
The reviews led me to Badger's Parting Gifts - same analogy with sleeping, and The Sad Book by Michael Rosen about the death of his 19 year old son. Does anyone know either of these?
Five year old Scott is asking about death a lot lately. Mercifully it was only the death of his little fish that has prompted his questions.
How anyone explains death by terrorist or war, to a bereaved child is quite beyond me and my heart goes out to all those to whom this heartbreaking task falls.