When Someone Dies [Hardcover]

Sharon Greenlee (Author), Bill Drath (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1992

In this simple book, counselor Sharon Greenlee explains the hurt, fear, and confusion felt by children and adults alike after a death has occurred. Accompanied by delicate watercolors, When Someone Dies offers suggestions for easing the pain, surviving the changes, and remembering the good times. 15 watercolor illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Greenlee, who counsels grieving children through what the publisher calls writing therapy, here offers bibliotherapy to bereaved young readers. Her plotless book adopts the second-person perspective to express a variety of reactions to death and mourning ("If the person that sic died was very important to you, you get to worrying that all the other important people might leave too") and to offer consolation ("I've never heard of it happening that way, but it's hard not to think about it"). The author's attempts to ape children's speech tend toward the coy ("So, whether you're a kid or a tall person") and Drath's rather banal watercolors are unnecessarily limiting in that all the people shown are white and all the settings rural. On the whole, however, Greenlee's words will prove familiar and comforting: "People don't go away like this on purpose, or even set out to make you mad. That's just what happens . . . when someone dies." Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 2-- The bereavement-counseling technique that forms the basis for this informal, conversational commentary on a child's experience of grief is sound, touching upon important points such as feelings, fears, and the need to cry, but the text is awkward. It sounds more like the transcript of a counseling session than a unified, carefully thought-out piece of prose. The style ranges from plain to lushly sentimental. Pretty, warm-toned watercolor illustrations portraying rural scenes such as a hunter, a fisherman, a boy and his dog, and black-capped chickadees against backgrounds of quiet lakes, mountains, meadows, and forests have little relation to the textual ideas, except to impart a contemplative, but cheering, mood. --Patricia Pearl Dole, formerly at First Presbyterian School, Martinsville, VA
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1 pages
• Publisher: Peachtree Publishers; 1 edition (January 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561450448
• ISBN-13: 978-1561450442
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 7.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #593,149 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When Someone Dies, January 31, 2000

By 

Pat Schulz (Nebraska) - See all my reviews

This review is from: When Someone Dies (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful book which offers comfort for children and adults. We had personal experience with this book as my father passed away recently. I gave my seven year old great niece a copy to help her to understand his death; and at my father's funeral, I asked the pastor to read the last few pages to share with all who came. After reading, the pastor asked me where I had found this book as he wanted to add it to his library also. Although we don't want to ever need this kind of book; when we do need it, it is very comforting.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finding Life in Loss, December 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: When Someone Dies (Hardcover)

This is a beautifully written book that will help anyone deal with the feelings and experiences of losing someone you love. It validates the pain and gently leads the reader to begin to find life in the loss.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book for grieving process., December 31, 1999

By 

Carole Sue Triplett (Ames, Iowa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: When Someone Dies (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful book for children......and adults too. I have given this book as a gift when people are trying to understand their feelings as well as their behaviors. Well written and illustrated.