Michael Rosen's Sad Book

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In my experience it has helped some of my clients to open up difficult conversations about death and loss. It wasn't made like any other book either; Michael Rosen said of the text, " I wrote it at a moment of extreme feeling and it went straight down onto the page . A heartbreakingly honest account of a father’s grief for his son from the illustrious pairing of two former Children’s Laureates. A children's author and illustrator, most well-known for his illustratrations for books by Roald Dahl. I've endured a boatload of grief and disappointment as each member of my family has passed to the great beyond and there are no other relatives.

It begins with a picture of Rosen looking happy, with text explaining that he is sad and only pretending to be happy. The remainder of the book discusses the different feelings that bereavement brings, and ways of coping with them including distracting oneself and expressing feelings through writing. A tireless promoter of children's literature – and a long-time collaborator with roald Dahl – Quentin Blake was awarded the OBE in 1988 and in 2005 he was awarded a CBE for services to Children's Literature.

He is also the winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration and in 1990 was voted 'The Illustrator's Illustrator' by Observer Magazine. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

It is beautifully written with sensitivity and a reality which touches all ages, and can help us to start to understand the profound impact that death has on us. His first degree in English Literature and Language was from Wadham College, Oxford and he went on to study for an MA at the University of Reading and a PhD at the former University of North London, now London Metropolitan. Quentin Blake's illustrations sensitively complement an account of grief that is both searingly personal and reassuringly universal. It wasn't made like any other book either; Michael Rosen said of the text, "I wrote it at a moment of extreme feeling and it went straight down onto the page .Rosen said that the book arose after a group of children asked him questions about his son's death and they were able to discuss it in a "matter-of-fact" way. It could help with articulating the difficult thoughts and the many, sometimes, conflicting, emotions that come with grief.

And Quentin Blake says that the picture of Michael "being sad but trying to look happy" is the most difficult drawing he's ever done. Michael Rosen's Sad Book chronicles Michael's grief at the death of his son Eddie from meningitis at the age of 19.

The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. It's a book to be kept forever it's so relatable that you would think its only you who feel this way and what's goingbon this books simple self honest explanatory book is just a book you can re read when needed and say its OK not be ok don't feel guilty for when you do .

With emotional elegance and nuance, he welcomes and unpicks each layer of mourning and explains why it’s ok to be sad. Quentin was the inaugural Children's Laureate (1999-2001), an experience he recorded in his book Laureate's Progress.He is currently Professor of Children’s Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London where he co-devised and teaches critical approaches to reading on an MA in Children’s Literature, having done the same at Birkbeck, University of London. They combine perfectly recognisable portraits of Rosen with expressionism, proving that Blake's seemingly spontaneous style is born out of practice and precision. During his time in the role, he celebrated children's books and children's book illustration with a range of projects and exhibitions, and conceived the idea for the House of Illustration, the world's first centre dedicated to the art of illustration in all its forms. The book takes you along Michael Rosen’s thoughts in such a way that you feel with him yet can also understand everything from your own perspective.