I Miss You: A First Look at Death

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.

I bought this book based on the reviews and because we are expecting a death in our family soon. I have a three year old son and I wanted to start acquainting him with the idea without scaring him. This book introduces the concept of death in a very positive and gentle way. We actually read it as a bedtime story. I love the way the author presents some of the more difficult and abstract concepts about death. And, there are suggestions at the end of the story for further discussing death.

This book covers much more than things live and then they die. It talks about how you feel and invites the child to tell how they are feeling. Besides talking about death it explains funerals and what the purpose is. The thing I liked best about this book was how it explained the after life. No matter what your religious beliefs their explanation of after life is perfect and doesn't limit it's self to any specific belief. It goes on to discuss this in terms a child can understand "sometimes it helps if you think of a soul as a single rain drop, joining a great big ocean". We got a few books to help us explain and answer our 4 ½ year olds questions but this one covers everything, it's the only one we would have needed.

I bought this book for my 5 year old when his grandmother died. My son was dealing with some serious grief. We were searching for any way that we could to help him. He loves this book. It has questions to go over with your child that really open up the communication and help children deal with the emotions that they are feeling. This book is a favorite in our house that we read every night and have great happy memories of our loved one.