Hi all! Jessica Vitalis, author of The Wolf's Curse (out Sept. 21 from Greenwillow/HarperCollins) here with a guest post on writing about grief for a middle grade audience. Welcome, Jessica! --Shreya Reinventing the Grim Reaper–Why Children Need Books about Death and GriefMy family went camping recently; it was our first big outing in nearly a year and we were in high spirits as we left the house. A few hours later, we were cruising down a back road with the music blasting when the traffic in front of us slowed and then came to a standstill. Eventually, we inched forward and discovered the source of the slowdown: an accident. A car was wrapped around a utility pole, but that’s not what caught our attention––it was the man frantically administering CPR to a body next to the car. In a second, the mood in our car shifted, and we were all made aware of our own mortality.
We were reminded of this again later in the trip when we discovered a rattlesnake near our campsite. While the odds of a deadly encounter with this reptile were slim, we were once again faced with an uncomfortable reminder of how fast things can change. You might be wondering why I’m sharing all of this with you––allow me to explain. My debut novel, The Wolf’s Curse, releases in September. It’s a middle grade twist on our traditional Grim Reaper mythology, and one of the questions I get asked most frequently is why I chose to tackle such a heavy subject for middle grade readers. My answer is this: no matter how much we want to protect children from pain and suffering, the reality is that we live in a world where that’s impossible. Even if we weren’t at what I hope will be the tail end of a global pandemic, children still live with the reality of school shootings, and the traumas of drugs, hunger, and violence are all too real for far too many kids. Even if they never experience these traumas directly, they’re exposed to them indirectly––through classmates, through the news, through social media, while on camping trips with their family. And all of them will one day face loss in some form or another. We have a responsibility to acknowledge that the world can sometimes be a frightening place and offer youth the tools they need to process the world around them. For the youngest of children, books such as You’ll Find Me by Amanda Rawson Hill and Big Cat, Little Cat by Elisha Cooper can help. Older readers can explore these topics in realistic stories such as Glitter Gets Everywhere by Yvette Clark, The Line Tender by Kate Allen, and The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart. My own book, The Wolf’s Curse, tackles death head on, but it’s within the context of a fantastical setting and an adventure that will make these topics both accessible and entertaining for even the most reluctant of readers. Death and grief will never be easy, but through stories we can help prepare kids to for the difficulties they are likely to one day face––to make sure their first encounters aren’t traumatic, to show them they aren’t alone, and hopefully infuse to them with the sense that no matter how sad or difficult the circumstances in which they might find themselves, there is always room for hope and healing.
0 Comments
|
The BaronessHey, I'm Shreya! I love to read, write, travel, and drink tea. Disclosure: I am an affiliate of bookshop.org and I will earn a small commission if you click the above link and make a purchase.
Categories
All
Archives
June 2023
|