When Dinosaurs Die: A Guide to Understanding Death

As the title says, this is a guide to understanding death. There is no story line or entertainment element whatsoever. The illustrations are what attracted me to the book, because although the topic of death is dark and sad, the drawings are very bright and colorful. The book has separate sections that are meant to explain death to children. I believe that they achieve that goal, however I don’t think they do it in a very appealing way. The text is very informative, presenting very real experiences (such as loss of a pet, grandparent, or cousin) and feelings (such as confusion, fear, sadness, etc.), but the lack of a plot or story makes it unappealing to children, who are the target audience of this book. Authors who are tackling the show more topic of death in children’s literature should present it in a manner that is serious but also somewhat lighthearted, and this book fails to do that. Although I find this book to be completely unattractive to young readers, it can still provide a lot of information about death. show less

The use of anthropomorphic dinosaurs helps to distance the reader from the subject dealt with in the text. The illustrations and page design are in a comic-book format. However simple the content matter it touches on some areas which most other books aimed at younger age groups do not, such as suicide and war as causes of death. It is very basic but would provide a good background to the subject.

This book is a great life guide for kids and how to approach death. I love how this book breaks down each situation that you might go throughwhen someone dies. There are many things that some people go through. I would defiantly recomend this this book for people to read to student because kids need to know how to react to death and not feel alone.

Description: A sensitive and age-appropriate book that explains death and grief, helping children understand and cope with loss.
Age Group: 4-8 years

"The Browns (author, Laurie Krasny Brown and illustrator, Marc Brown) tackle their toughest subject to date. . .These astute collaborators provide a commendable service for grieving children and the adults in their lives." Source: Publisher's Weekly (starred review).This book includes a glossary.