The Saddest Book Ever

A tumblr exploration of the saddest children's literature, and why we choose to read it.

[thesaddestbookever]

Resources

Bianco, Margery Williams, and Michael Hague. The Velveteen Rabbit, Or, How Toys Become Real. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1983. Print.

Boyne, John. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: A Fable. Oxford: David Fickling, 2006. Print.

Bunting, Eve, and Ronald Himler. Fly Away Home. New York: Clarion, 1991. Print.

Burnett, Frances Hodgson. A Little Princess. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1963. Print.

Freeman, Cynthia. Always and Forever. New York: Putnam, 1990. Print.

Gipson, Fred, and Carl Burger. Old Yeller. New York: Harper & Bros., 1956. Print.

Munsch, Robert N., and Sheila McGraw. Love You Forever. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

Ness, Patrick, Jim Kay, and Siobhan Dowd. A Monster Calls: A Novel. Somerville, MA: Candlewick, 2011. Print.

Paterson, Katherine, Donna Diamond, and Amy Hill. Bridge to Terabithia. New York, NY: T.Y. Crowell, 1977. Print.

Pullman, Philip. The Amber Spyglass. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000. Print.

Rawls, Wilson. Where the Red Fern Grows: The Story of Two Dogs and a Boy. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1961. Print.

Rosen, Michael, and Quentin Blake. Michael Rosen's Sad Book. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick, 2005. Print.

Sepetys, Ruta. Between Shades of Gray. New York, NY: Speak, 2011. Print.

Silverstein, Shel, and Shel Silverstein. The Giving Tree. New York: Harper & Row, 1964. Print.

TenNapel, Doug, and Katherine Garner. Tommysaurus Rex. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

Williams, Carol Lynch. The Chosen One. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2009. Print.

Wiseman, Angela. "Summer's End And Sad Goodbyes: Children's Picturebooks About Death And Dying." Children's Literature In Education 44.1 (2013): 1-14. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 May 2015.

Zusak, Markus. The Book Thief. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. Print.

[shelbys-advice-blog]

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[thesaddestbookever]

Reading and responding to literature has been identified as a powerful method for dealing with traumatic events, such as losing a loved one (Bargiel et al., 1997; Dutro, 2008). Using children’s literature to support a child who is experiencing grief can validate emotions and experiences (Copenhaver-Johnson et al., 2008; Corr, 2003–2004). Sipe and Bauer (2001) analyzed interactive read alouds in a kindergarten classroom and demonstrated that, when provided opportunities to respond dialogically, children’s complex responses built on their own cultural background and personal understanding. Other studies have revealed how topics in picture books that focus on the most fundamental emotions and experiences of life provide opportunities for children to consider their own feelings and responses about a topic (Short, 2011). Responding to literature can support children’s grief reactions, which is one reason that counselors use bibliotherapy. Bibliotherapy allows children to make personal connections with characters, relate to story elements, and in turn, cope with their own difficult emotions (Ianquinta and Hipsky, 2006; Prater and Dyches, 2006).

“Summer’s End and Sad Goodbyes: Children’s Picture books About Death and Dying” by Angela M. Wiseman

[thesaddestbookever]

The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams; Illustrated by William Nicholson

By the time the Velveteen Rabbit is dirty, worn out, and about to be burned, he has almost given up hope of ever finding the magic called Real.

[thesaddestbookever]

Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting; Illustrated by Ronald Himler

A homeless boy who lives in an airport with his father, moving from terminal to terminal and trying not to be noticed, is given hope when he sees a trapped bird find its freedom.

[thesaddestbookever]

Always and Forever by Alan Durant; Illustrated by Debi Gliori

A family of forest animals learns to cope with the death of a loved one.

[thesaddestbookever]

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

A young boy grows to manhood and old age experiencing the love and generosity of a tree which gives to him without thought of return.

[thesaddestbookever]

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

A young boy living in the Ozarks achieves his heart's desire when he becomes the owner of two redbone hounds and teaches them to be champion hunters.

[thesaddestbookever]

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

Bored and lonely after his family moves from Berlin to a place called "Out-With" in 1942, Bruno, the son of a Nazi officer, befriends a boy in striped pajamas who lives behind a wire fence.

[thesaddestbookever]

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

[thesaddestbookever]

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson; Illustrated by Donna Diamond 

The life of a ten-year-old boy in rural Virginia expands when he becomes friends with a newcomer who subsequently meets an untimely death trying to reach their hideaway, Terabithia, during a storm.

[thesaddestbookever]

Love You Forever by Robert Munsch; Illustrated by Sheila McGraw

[thesaddestbookever]

Michael Rosen’s Sad Book by Michael Rosen; Illustrated by Quentin Blake

A man tells about all the emotions that accompany his sadness over the death of his son, and how he tries to cope.

[thesaddestbookever]

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

[thesaddestbookever]

Tommysaurus Rex by Doug Tennapel

Presents the adventures of Ely and the forty-foot Tyrannosaurus rex he found trapped in a cave behind his grandfather's house.

[thesaddestbookever]

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

In a polygamous cult in the desert, Kyra, not yet fourteen, sees being chosen to be the seventh wife of her uncle as just punishment for having read books and kissed a boy, in violation of Prophet Childs' teachings, and is torn between facing her fate and running away from all that she knows and loves.

[thesaddestbookever]

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors.