Most Helpful Customer Reviews
156 of 162 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is the book I've been looking for, December 7, 2005
This review is from: I Miss You: A First Look At Death (Paperback)
I am the parent of a 4 year old child. Her preschool teacher, who was also our family babysitter, just passed away very unexpectedly from cardiac arrest (at a young age). As we have a very open-minded spirituality in our home, we wanted to find a book that would help our daughter understand death and the feelings she is having, without any particular religious slant.
This book explains in very gentle, simple terms what happens when a person dies (they no longer eat or breathe, etc.), and explains that it is a part of the natural process of all living things. It talks about the different feelings that we have, including that we might feel bad about things that we did, or didn't do, but that it is not our fault that the person died. It talks about how sometimes people die when they are very old, or when they are very sick, or when something tragic happens. As for addressing "afterlife", it provides the perspective that we don't really know what happens, but that most cultures have some type of belief that the soul--the part of a person that we love--goes on to be with other souls that have already died, kind of like rain drops joining the ocean.
I can't imagine anything about this book that I would want to be done differently. It is beautifully written, beautifully illustrated, and exactly what I was hoping to find to help my child during this difficult time.
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70 of 76 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Helps young children deal with loss, January 20, 2006
This review is from: I Miss You: A First Look At Death (Paperback)
We have added this book to our short-list collection of books dealing with loss. It is an excellent secular discussion about dying. In it the author states, "Death is a natural part of life. All living things grow, change and eventually die." On the page where this text appears is a dying tree; on the facing page is a fallen bird. When the book reaches human loss, there's a question at the bottom of the page designed to help adults guide a child in a brief discussion by asking, "What about you? Has anyone you know died? How did they die?"
This book helps children (and adults, too) deal with the loss of loved ones, its accompanying grief, and even guilt. Likening one's soul to a raindrop that joins other raindrops in the ocean is brilliant! At the end of the book is a section on how to use the book; a short glossary (funeral, soul, and grief) which could've been expanded to include words like "culture," "beliefs", "ceremony"; further reading choices; and a paragraph on resources for grief support. I liked the fact that author Thomas mentions that people of different cultures have some beliefs that are the same and some that are different when it comes to what happens after someone dies. Lesley Harker's illustrations are lovely and comforting.
A must for every family's home library.
Carolyn Rowe Hill
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51 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Clear and sensitive at the same time, July 8, 2005
This review is from: I Miss You: A First Look At Death (Paperback)
This books gives a clear and simple explanation about death without complicated religious concepts about heaven or god. I only regret that the author did not go a little bit further by mentioning something about cremation as an alternative to the burial and by not using the classical old figure of the person who died. I am looking for ways to explain to a 5 year old girl from a non religious family what happened to her young mother who died and was cremated. This book helped a lot more than others and I highly recommend it. I also recommend reading "When Charlotte Mom's Died" from Cornelia Spelman and wish I could find more work done for these boys and girls who loose relatively young people and not only their grandparents.
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