Death and dying in children's literature was a class I took in college, because it is such a common theme. Children are curious about it. They don't quite understand it, and these books are made to help them to understand. They are gentle books, for the most part. And there are usually adults in the story to help ease the pain of whomever has died. This is especially important at the level this book is written at, which is a picture book.

Two books that did a good job of this are Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs, and the Tenth Good Thing About Barney.

In Tomie dePaola's excellen book <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/98407.Nana_Upstairs_and_Nana_Downstairs/">Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs</a>, a little boy, Tommy, learns that his great grandmother has died, and is gently comforted, and told about death, and grieving.

In the book, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/140185.The_Tenth_Good_Thing_about_Barney/"> The Tenth Good Thing About Barney</a> , the child morns the death of his cat, and his parents help him by having a funeral and thinking about the good things about Barney.

I'm sure there are more books out there that do an excellent job, but these were the first two picture books that came to mind.

But Goodbye Grandpa fails to help a child deal with death. Perhaps the Dutch look at death differently, but if I were a child, and found my grandfather dead, I would need to be comforted by my loved ones, not a random chicken and elephant. And to just have the grandpa die, drop dead, and then the children of this story to just cover him up with leaves, and never go to find their parents? It sounds terrifying.

What happens when the bear goes home that evening. "Oh, we found grandpa dead in the field, so we just covered him up with leaves, and thought good thoughts about him. How was your day?"

I'm sorry, but this book is not one I would give to any child who was in mourning, nor a child that that would soon lose a loved one.

It isn't all better in a day. It isn't all better in a weak. We all need time to mourn. I lost my cat of 21 years, in May, and there are still days that I miss him. I lost my father 15 years ago, and although I have gotten over the pain of the loss, I still think about him from time to time, and miss him.

I'm sorry, but this book is not going to helpful to children, and it send the wrong message, at least in this translation.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.