Customer Reviews

Little Bill #12: The Day I Saw My Father Cry (level 3)

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As a fellow author of a child's book on death, "ANGELSTACEY/DADDY in HEAVEN", our family just recently became aware of this title. Our 8 year old twins love the Little Bill books. They are also children who lost their mother in childbirth. At this age they have a better understanding of loss/death. We as their parents encourage any questions about their natural mother.

Typically it is our twin daughter who has been the most vocal about death and her natural mother. Having stumbled upon this title with my son, he showed interest in the book. It was a good read for him at a time when he is beginning to question and seek out more answers about death.

Little Bill books are so colorful, full of heart and always a life lesson. They are easy to read and geared to the 4 to 8 aged reader. This is a topic close to my heart and our family and this title addresses it well.

Take it from someone who knows first hand how difficult it is to address this topic with a young child, this is a solid, healthy approach to a subject that needs to be better addressed and this is yet another excellent way to address it.

This book contains 4 short chapters. In the first chapter, the narrator meets a new neighbor, Alan Mills. Alan Mills always seems to turn up at times of conflict to remind people about the magic of Christmas, even if it's not Christmas time. In doing this, he gets people to focus back on the positive sides of the friends and family. In chapter 3, Alan Mills passes away (and the narrator's father cries about this). But in chapter 4, we find that his spirit is still alive, when the narrator and his brother remember Mills' message and stop their bickering over prime seats in front of the TV. Altogether, the book contains about 1500 words and is suitable for beginning readers.

A very touching story about how parents and children experience grief. Young boys especially do not often see the pain of grief in adult men. I'm always glad of a positive role model that shows that grown up men feel sad and miss the people they lose. This book does a nice job of demonstrating that experience.

My 4 year old son loves watching Little Bill, so when I got these books he now wants to read them everyday. We have read this story so much he has memorized the entire book and now reads it back to me. Little Bill always has a good story for kids to understand and grasp with a moral in which anyone can relate to. I definitely recommend any of the Little Bill books.