The Three Birds: A Story for Children About the Loss of a Loved One (Books to Help Children)

When a young bird's mother dies, its father tells it that Mummy is living in the sun now, where it is warm and Mummy can fly freely

PreS-Gr 2-Sammy's Mommy, a straightforward story about cancer, is the most successful of these three titles. The focus is on a preschooler, and the text-approximately one sentence per page-is on his level. Feelings are acknowledged and presented honestly, and the experiences of treatment and recovery are presented simply and sequentially. The family is portrayed in soft paintings as they deal with the mother's illness. Judith Vigna's When Eric's Mom Fought Cancer (Albert Whitman, 1993) is a similar treatment, but that book has more text. The other two titles address death through allegory. Gentle Willow, the story of a friendship between a squirrel and a dying tree, is muddied by too many characters who introduce too many issues. There is a pointless presence of wizards and an implausible detail of Gentle Willow sounding like ``crystal chimes'' in the wind; distracting butterflies dance in and out, and the story of their metamorphosis is interjected. However, there is a nice memory sequence, and Chesworth's watercolors strike just the right tone. Three Birds is a simple, rather saccharine tale about a bird family in which the mother dies. It could serve to encourage talking about death or provide a safe vehicle for indirect discussion, but it does not explore the baby's feelings following the death of its mother. The illustrations portray fantasy creatures in a cotton-candy colored world.-Valerie Lennox, Jacksonville Public Library, FL

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