This Book Is for All Kids, but Especially My Sister Libby. Libby Died.

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This Book Is for All Kids, but Especially My Sister Libby. Libby Died.

Jack Simon

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Description

The five-year-old author shares his thoughts, feelings, and memories of his little sister Libby, who died at the age of three and a half from a rare disorder.


Reviews

Amazon Editorial Reviews

The Dallas Morning News

…simple, frank, and powerful…the text and art are bold and expressive

Publisher’s Weekly

For opening a discussion about death, no book is more direct…grief and hope spill onto immensely colored pages…

Hallmark / Jane Elyse Pryor, Senior Editor

This is a wonderful book…so poignant and expressive and a beautiful message for those suffering a loss.

Danny Mize, Executive Director, The Kids’ Place, Oklahoma City

What a book! Our family services director read it first and wrote: “This book is so wonderful!

Amazon Reader Review

I recently read this book, published in 2000, written by Annette Simon’s son Jack, age 5 (and illustrated by Annette). The rather lengthy title of the book is “This Book Is for All Kids, but Especially My Sister Libby. Libby Died…” The book chronicles Jack’s comments and questions to his mother after the death of his younger sister from a rare disorder. Despite the sad topic, the book is surprisingly upbeat and filled with humor, though it brought tears to my eyes, too.

Even more so than in Mocking Birdies (Annette Simon’s other book, which I also reviewed), the fonts and colors and illustrations make the book really stand out. Some words are in a huge font, like shouting, while others whisper from a tiny font at the bottom of the page. Clever touches abound, like the question mark that has a picture of the Earth for the period beneath it (on a page with oversized text asking “In heaven, are you as big as you were on Earth?”).

Jack’s questions and observations range from the mundane (“And when you die, you don’t even have food”), to the humorous, to the profound (“And when you die, you’re set free”). Overall, the book is uplifting and positive. The Amazon reviews are all highly enthusiastic, too.

I think that this book could help any child to understand and deal with loss. Though the book is focused on the loss of a sibling, I think that it speaks to anyonewho has lost a parent or grandparent or other loved one. And I think that the simplicity and faith of Jack’s responses will help adults, too. Which is a pretty remarkable achievement for a 5-year-old.

 

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Posted on

February 5, 2018