This book focuses on Ben, a boy who is dealing with grief over the loss of his pet dog. While the book may be useful as a tool to help other children relate to the loss of their pet, the first page struck me as dismissive of the boys feelings and emotions when his mother suggested he befriend a new pet.
However, after an honest talk with a friend, the boy was able to talk about his feelings openly and after that, he was more willing to get to know his new pet.
I think the book highlighted the importance of letting the child talk about how he is feeling, therefore making this book ideal for an adult to read with their children if they’re experiencing grief. An adult cannot expect a child to deal with grief the same way as them, and an instant “replacement” may not always be the answer.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Goodbye, Max is the story of a child working through his grief over his dog's recent death. It's a realistic story of the many emotions we feel when a pet passes away. I didn't like that Dad went out and got a new puppy very quickly apparently without consulting the rest of the family. It turned out well in this book, but it doesn't always.
Ben takes the death of his dog Max pretty hard. He initially blames his parents, even though Max was an older dog. Ben shuns the new puppy his father gives him, but with the help of his friend Zach, Ben is able to remember and share the good times, and work through the grief of loss.
Genre: Fictional Picture Book Reading Level: Late transitional, this book is late transitional because there are several sentences per page. The font is medium size and the words are not to difficult. Topic: Losing a pet, dealing with grief Curriculum Uses: Independent Reading Social Issues:This book looks at dealing with the death of a pet. It digs deeper into how each child deals with death and how it can take different amounts of time until children are ready to come to terms with it. Literary Elements:This book has a lot of dialogue within it between the boy and the people around him. The book has a definite theme, which is grieving takes time. There is imagery within the book. Illustrations & Text: The text allows you to better understand the characters in the story, and the illustrations also help with this. The illustrations and text help you to get a better understanding of how the characters feel. The illustrations help to tell the story. Summary: This book looks at a little boy dealing with death for the first time in his life. His dog, Max, died and the little boy is having a hard time dealing with it. The boy goes through stages of first anger and then it turns to sorrow. In the beginning, the boy feels that he will never recover from his loss but in the end he finds that time does heal some wounds.
Ben's dog Max is old and sick. One day Ben goes to school and Max dies. With the help of his friend Ben is able to remember the fun times with Max. He and his friend cry together. Great story to help children deal with the loss of a pet.