Joyce C. Mills

This book is a trade book and a fairytale. It talks about a squirrel named Amanda, Little Tree, and Gentle Willow. Gentle Willow starts to get "sick" and Amanda tries to make her feel better. Eventually Gentle Willow passed away. I gave this book a three out of five stars because I think it is a good way to introduce younger students to the hard topic of death. I think the book was trying to celebrate life instead of focusing on death. The illustrations look like they were painted in light water colors. I thought it was good to not have such bright colors for such a dark topic. I would use this book in the classroom maybe if a student had a family member pass away, or if a student in the school passed away. It teaches a good lesson on trying to remember the good memories you had with that person.… (meer)

GENTLE WILLOW is children’s story that addresses the issue of death. The book is aiming more towards people who are experiencing death in the form of a terminal illness. A squirrel named Amanda is friends with a tree named Gentle Willow. One day, Amanda notices that there is something wrong with Gentle Willow because she looks different. The tree wizards, Imageen and Fixumup, go to the tree and find out that she is ill and will soon die. The wizards tell Amanda that she should give Gentle Willow the medicine called Love, by singing songs and telling stories to her. On a day that Gentle Willow was particularly sad, Amanda tells her a story about how a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly. In the end, Gentle Willow is gone, but her memory is still present in the forest. This is a beautiful piece of children’s literature that focuses on death. By reading this book, children are exposed to the topic and can learn how to handle it. The story of the butterfly is symbolic of the transformation one goes through when they die, which can invite children to analyze the issue through a spiritual lens. The illustrations are very appealing to children because they are colorful and bright, which establishes a sense of peace to accompany this very serious and somber topic. This book may be very beneficial in a classroom in which a student may have a terminal illness, such as cancer. It would also be helpful to use this book to help any child understand the process of dying.… (meer)

This book is meant to serve as a resource for parents to talk to their children about death, and friends or the child who may be dying from a terminal disease. Told as a story about a friendship between a squirrel and a tree, the tree gets a disease and dies, and the squirrel must learn to cope. I felt that this book ended abruptly and was not the best portrayal of death because it was a tree that died.
There is a lot of advice and resources for parents at the end on how to talk to your child about death.… (meer)