Death in Children’s Literature: Love You Forever by Robert Munsch

Nymeth

For me it does. Personally I don’t believe in hiding from children a fact of life they will inevitably have to deal with sooner or later. And some aren’t lucky enough to be allowed to wait until later.

Of course, the way it’s dealt with is important. I think a perfect example of the subject being handled well is The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate Dicamillo.

Kathy

I can’t read this book without crying either. I do think death should be included in children’s literature because death is a part of life.

Smallworld Reads

I have always disliked this book. It started when I worked at a preschool, and the whole spring program was based on the book. i thought it was a bizarre way to end the year. A few years later, someone gave me this book as part of a baby shower and read the book aloud. We all ended up cracking up because some cut-up had to make fun of the old lady mother rocking her giant son. Anyway, I’m fine with death in literature, but this one never did anything for me.

Nymeth

I agree, Rebecca. I actually think stories can be a really great way of introducing difficult topics like death. Of course, I wouldn’t introduce the topic by making a kid watch Natural Born Killers or anything But a good children’s book will allow a child to empathize with the emotions of the protagonist, so if the protagonist has to deal with the death of someone they love, in a way the child will be experiencing those emotions themselves. But they’ll be doing it in a safe context, the context of a story that can be put aside. And who knows, maybe reading about certain topics can be of some help if we have to deal with them in real life. I can’t imagine how awful it would be for a child to first be exposed to death through the death of a parent, for example. I mean, that’s an awful situation in any case, but they’d have to deal with both grief and the confusion of trying to make sense of a situation they have absolutely no previous information about.

Heather (Belle of the Books)

I think it’s a moving story, but agree its more for mothers than kids. I remember reading it with my mom and avoided it like the plague. My mom tends to be emotional and I never liked the “weight” of the story or how my mom got when we read it together. It wasn’t until recently that I even understood that the story had anything to do with death!

Daisy

death in children’s literature is a fact,and necessary.