The Girl on the Roof

"It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one-" said Lemony Snicket. How do you explain such a concept to a child, who doesn't yet know how much it will hurt? Grief, loss. How do you console an adult who's confronted by such truth? I have come to a terrible realization that children's books are more powerful than they are.

"...Like walking up the stairs to your bedroom in the dark, and thinking there is one more stair than there is. Your foot falls down, through the air, and there is a sickly moment of dark surprise as you try to readjust the way you thought of things" How can a children's book so eloquently encapsulate that feeling? Because children's books do that. Grief is a strong, lonely, unstable force that common literature portrays as dark and all suffering. But only children's books can welcome grief and say "I know what you are, Grief. You are a form of pure love."