Is "Michael Rosen's Sad Book" for kids? That depends.

It’s so hard to write about Michael Rosen’s Sad Book. I’ve tried many times now, and each time I’m wrong about it.

It’s one of those wonderful things that just refuses to fit into a category.

Quentin Blake’s illustrations of Michael Rosen’s son, whose sudden absence in frame 4 is deeply moving.

On the outside, it has the appearance of being a picture book for little ones. It’s big and skinny with lots of pictures.

Those pictures happen to be created by Quentin Blake. You’ll recognize his work from the many, many Roald Dahl books he has illustrated.

Quentin Blake’s illustration of Matilda.

Like Ludwig Bemelmans, Blake is able to convey a startling degree of emotion with just a few spontaneous strokes.

But this is not a children’s book.

Or if it is, it is also a grownup book. It deals with Rosen’s grief after the death of his teenage son and how he works to piece together a meaningful existence, day by day. It is a book about survival, more than anything else, but not triumphant, horn-blaring survival; stuttering, difficult, always incomplete survival—the kind of survival where you forget, every morning, how to do it, and you must start all over again.

This is a gut punch of a book, but instead of making us all hurt more, it makes any of us feel less alone.

Is Michael Rosen’s Sad Book appropriate for kids?

This could be a profoundly important read for a child struggling with grief, but I recommend that it be read first with a parent. It will undoubtedly raise questions for all readers, regardless of age, so expect to have some thoughtful conversations.

---