No matter how old you are, the death of a loved one can always cause a spiritual earthquake and leave a wound in your heart. People recall the pain of loss over and over again in the aftershocks. When this pain falls on an ignorant child, it will become a wound in his heart that is difficult to heal.
Instead of letting the child feel that death means "never seeing again", and seeing the place where the deceased relatives went as a city of terror and becoming more and more afraid of death, it is better to seriously explain "death" to the child.
How to explain such a concept, I believe that many parents will feel a headache, so have you ever thought of using the form of a story to tell this inevitable topic to children?
Although we can't change the bereavement caused by death, we can still use a more warm approach to let children re-understand death and recognize the important force of love and thought.
"Grandpa's Last Secret" revolves around the growth theme of "farewell and death, love and thoughts", bringing children a farewell story full of childlike fun and warmth.
Before becoming a picture book writer, Brigitte Enders, the author of "Grandpa's Last Secret", had an experience as a primary school teacher, which allowed her to better enter the hearts of children and find creative inspiration through the confusion of growing up.
The illustrator of the picture book, Mark-Alexander Schultz, is a design major who understands the essence of the art of illustration in children's picture books. His works always highlight the moving details of the text content under the premise of matching the theme.
With such an excellent creative team of picture books, what kind of story does "Grandpa's Last Secret" tell?
What's wrong with Grandpa
In the past, adults used to use dogmatic methods to let children know death, "asleep", "travel" and "go back to their hometown" are the usual explanations of adults.
However, this vague or abstract explanation not only fails to make the child understand the true meaning of death, but also makes them more afraid of death, such as: Falling asleep is dead, so will I die when I fall asleep?
In fact, sometimes a story full of fairy tales can help children understand the meaning of death and soothe the trauma and fear caused by death.
In "Grandpa's Last Secret", in order to soothe the sad heart of her little granddaughter Amy, Grandpa, who is in the countdown to death, deliberately takes her little hand and takes her to swim with her in the seven "afterlife worlds" constructed with rich imagination - the place full of light at the end of the tunnel, the reunion party with relatives, the vibrant summer garden, the quiet night of looking at the stars in the air, the world guarded by angels, the world reborn as a tree, and a peaceful and peaceful void.
In Grandpa Amy's cheerful and colorful imaginary scene, the children see a death that is not frightening: although death means a long-distance separation, it can liberate those who are suffering from illness, and reunite those who have suffered from longing...
These open-ended answers, in addition to allowing children to accept the true meaning of death, also inspire them to sympathize and understand the suffering of their loved ones, and learn to maintain an optimistic attitude in the midst of suffering.
Perhaps this is the power of picture books, so that even as adults, we can get comfort and growth from it.
Where are you going
"Death" seems to many to be a terrible word, but in this picture book, the author insists on using positive language to describe the picture of a person dying. It's like this conversation:
"Grandpa, where are you going?"
"The place I'm going to is a secret, an adventure."
Grandpa turns death into a "secret" and "adventure" that Amy can accept, and slowly guides Amy out of the pain of losing her loved ones and gains the strength to face bravely.
In this book, almost every painting has one or two bold sentences. These visually significant sentences allow children to interpret the important information in the picture at the first time. At the same time, by reading these sentences, the children can also feel amy's emotional changes.
In addition to these eye-catching contents, other content also pays attention to the depiction of the appearance, movements and mental activities of the characters. In short, the theme of the story of "love" is embodied everywhere.
In the picture of "Grandpa Becomes a Tree", Grandpa is able to spend time with Amy and her children again after imagining himself being reborn as a tree. That happiness made Grandpa "show an imperceptible smile" and "seem to have a radiance on his pale face."
Death is terrible, but the happy memories that Amy and Grandpa have will always be there, like Grandpa's words, "Whenever you think of me, I will be by your side." ”
In the process of Grandpa's vivid depiction of the afterlife world, Amy's emotions are also constantly fluctuating. She was sometimes happy that her grandfather could live a healthy and happy life in the dreamy afterlife world, and sometimes she was distressed by the distance between herself and her grandfather.
In the simplest language, the warmth and tranquility of the afterlife are strung together for children, even children can understand it very well.
With the warmest painting, talk about the warmest love
The most successful picture books are always those works that are extremely contagious and expressive. In these pictures, even without the accompaniment of words, the reader can hear a complete and beautiful melody.
When people think of death, they inevitably think of the black of despair and the blue of sadness. In this book, the painter uses a lot of warm colors to draw a bright illustration full of joy and hope.
The first imaginary world in the golden space, the second imagining the pink party scene in the world, the third imagining the yellow-green summer in the world... Each brightly colored, fairytale-like dreamy picture is intuitively telling children that "death is not terrible."
In addition to the overall color closely related to the theme, the painter also puts effort into touching details.
In the picture of the reunion of relatives and friends, amy heard that Grandpa can be reunited with the deceased grandmother and others, and secretly wishes in her heart, "Grandpa must see them as he wishes." At this time, a close-up of Amy's smiling face appeared on the screen, and anyone could see her heartfelt expectations at a glance.
In another picture of Grandpa turning into an angel, Grandpa, who has huge white wings on his back, becomes Amy's exclusive angel. Grandpa swore to Amy, "I'll protect you." At the same time, Grandpa with huge wings flew into the air, and his eyes quickly grabbed the flowerpot that the upstairs neighbor accidentally touched, and fulfilled his promise of protection.
On the ring lining page of the book, there is a huge "photo wall" that can be seen at a glance, and the wall is full of photos of Amy and Grandpa. The photo records the happy time between the two grandfathers and grandchildren, and also silently tells the deep ancestral friendship between Amy and grandpa.
Close your eyes and you can see him
The flower language of cotton is to cherish the people around you. Maybe when we can tell our loved ones how much I love you and miss you, one day, when we are forced to separate by "death", we will be more at ease.
Life education is a lifelong thing, it is better to use this "Grandpa's Last Secret" as the first lesson for children to recognize death, teach them to paint a rich color for death, and connect with the imagination full of love and thoughts with deceased relatives, and understand that if life is to continue, love and thoughts are the best recipe.
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