Something Very Sad Happened: A Toddler's Guide to Understanding Death Hardcover – Picture Book, November 4, 2020

This book is well written and helped our three-year-old understand what happened when her grandpa passed.She had us read it to her every day for a month, following his passing, and it really helped her through the process of comprehending his passing.

When my six year old son, Victor, passed away, I ordered this book literally while still in the hospital room. We had several children, including a toddler, and we needed words for a grief that is hard to express. The book is easy to personalize (proper nouns and pronouns are bolded so you can easily replace them) and we literally read it to our kids with our son's name and pronouns in it, personalizing it so that our toddler could understand. Children often need repetition to understand abstractions, like "death", and being able to pull this book off the shelf and read and reread it with our family was such a help in an incredibly difficult time. I send it to friends with kids who have losses, and keep a copy or two on hand for local friends. It has been a very helpful resource for our family. Even when we aren't directly reading the book, we quote many of the lines as scripts to answer questions around death and dying for our kids.

This book is advertised for younger children but I read it to my almost 5 year old after her grandpa passed and I thought it was just right. I looked through lots of options and I thought this book along with the Lifetimes book were the best for preschool age children.In case the author ever reads this: I'm so appreciative of what you've done with this book, including the advice for adults at the end. It's clear that you are an expert in this field but also have personally experienced this journey; what a valuable combination. I want to thank you in particular for one of the last sections where you talk about how the loved one will always have had an influence on our kid's lives even if they may not remember them anymore. That has brought me so much comfort and I look back on that quote often. Thank you.

Really sweet book. I bought for my, at the time, 2yo who was struggling with understanding where her daddy went and what was going on with me too. My mom had moved in to take care of me and my daughter when her dad passed away. I was very sad and this book helped us both talk about her daddy and how we were sad about him dying.

It's a nice guide to talking to your very young children about death. It's a great starting point to have when you are grieving and have to explain to very small children. We needed up not reading it to my little one, but the advice and ideas in it were good. I disagree with the author about a few pieces of advice given, but that's just a personal opinion. In general, it really helped us explain the death of a close family member to our 2 year old. It would also be easy to replace the loved one's name in the book to fit whomever you have lost. Some of the advice we did take has helped our little one understand why the person's we lost is no longer around and can't play.

This book really helped my granddaughter. Good buy

Appreciate the parent guidance on talking to young children about death and guidance on how to personalize the book for the sex and relationship of the person who passed (ie grandma, uncle, etc).

This is a great book written in plain language for little kids to kind of get a grasp on what it means to lose a loved one. CAUTION!!! If you, the parent, have lost a parent, this book will make you cry as you read it to your kids! 😭 It really helped our daughter understand why Mommy was so sad.