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Cry, Heart, But Never Break

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Cry, Heart, But Never Break

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Hardcover
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Overview

A poetic picture book about being able to say goodbye to those we love, while holding them in memory.

Winner of the 2016 Mildred L. Batchelder Award
A Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Book of 2017
A Choosing Therapy Best Grief Book for Children for 2022
Aware their grandmother is gravely ill, four siblings make a pact to keep death from taking her away. But Death does arrive all the same, as it must. He comes gently, naturally. And he comes with enough time to share a story with the children that helps them to realize the value of loss to life and the importance of being able to say goodbye.

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About the Author

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781592701872
Publisher:	Enchanted Lion
Publication date:	02/16/2016
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	642,424
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 11.80(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Glenn Ringtved is a best-selling and award-winning Danish children's author, whose books have been widely translated.

Charlotte Pardi is a well-beloved Danish illustrator, who has created numerous books since her first picture book in 2000.

Robert Moulthrop is a published playwright. He lives in Greenwich Village, New York City.

From the B&N Reads Blog

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Editorial Reviews

…Cry, Heart, but Never Break…is rich and affecting.

The New York Times Book Review - Mark Levine

02/22/2016
In this empathic picture book, first published in Denmark in 2001, Death—a towering, robed figure with a beaklike nose and sorrowful expression—solemnly sits with four children around their grandmother’s kitchen table. “Not wishing to frighten the children, the visitor had left his scythe outside the door,” writes Ringtved, providing a clue as to the figure’s tender nature. And yet, he has come for their grandmother, resting upstairs. The children refill Death’s coffee mug in an attempt to postpone the inevitable; while drinking his coffee, Death tells them an allegorical story to illustrate how, like grief and joy or sorrow and delight, life and death cannot exist without the other. “What would life be worth if there were no death?” he asks. Finally, Death goes upstairs, telling the children the words of the title, which offer comfort in the following years. Pardi creates a cozy, lived-in ambiance in her pencil and watercolor art; Death’s almost grandfatherly persona suggests that there is a time to go gently into that good night. Ages 4–8. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Winner of the 2016 Mildred L. Batchelder Award
A Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Book of 2017
A Choosing Therapy Best Grief Book for Children for 2022

"Now comes a fine addition to the most intelligent and imaginative children’s books about making sense of death — the crowning jewel of them all, even." — Maria Popova, Brain Pickings

"Rich and affecting." — Mark Levine, The New York Times

"In this empathic picture book, [...] Pardi creates a cozy, lived-in ambiance in her pencil and watercolor art." Publishers Weekly

"The removal of any parental buffer in this episode reinforces the salutary suggestion that children are resilient enough to be in death’s presence without fear. [...] Gentle, wistful reading for times of imminent loss." Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2016-01-20
Death brings both loss and comfort to four children when he comes for their grandmother in this Danish import. In an arresting opening, a small country house with a scythe propped next to the door gives way to a kitchen scene in which Nels, Sonia, Kasper, and little Leah sadly sit at the table with a tall, black-hooded, slump-shouldered figure. Death, it seems, is not cold and remote but has a heart that "beats with a great love of life." He patiently answers Leah's "why does she have to die?" with a parable about the happy marriages of sisters Joy and Delight to brothers Sorrow and Grief: "What would life be worth if there were no death?" When the time comes Death completes the titular command—"Let your tears of grief and sadness help begin new life"—and departs, leaving the children clustered around their grandmother's bed to remember and to live on. Pardi gives the Grim Reaper a kindly aspect, and if the philosophy is a bit abstract, the removal of any parental buffer in this episode reinforces the salutary suggestion that children are resilient enough to be in death's presence without fear. Gentle, wistful reading for times of imminent loss. (Picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews

Cry, Heart, But Never Break

Cry, Heart, But Never Break

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