What Happened to Daddy's Body? by Elke Barber - now Elke Thompson - Read Aloud in May 2020

 

Read by the author, "What Happened to Daddy's Body?" is a fully illustrated children's book, explaining what happens after death in words very young children can understand, based on her own story. “My daddy died when I was (one...two...) three years old. Today we are out in the garden. It always makes me think about my daddy because he LOVED his garden. Sometimes, I wonder what happened to my daddy's body...” This book tells the true story of what happened in the months after Alex's daddy died and how, with the help of his mother, Alex learnt all about burial and cremation. Based on the many difficult questions my then four-year-old son asked me, and written in his own words and from his point of view, this book explains what happens after death to very young children in an honest, yet gentle and age-appropriate way. Unfortunately dying is part of living, and this book helps children to feel less alone, and adults to find words to explain the seemingly incomprehensible. It also introduces the concept of blended families and living and loving after loss. “What Happened to Daddy's Body?” was written by Elke Barber (now Elke Thompson) and her son, Alex Barber. It was illustrated by Anna Jarvis. Originally self-published in 2014 with a little help from crowdfunding, it was taken on by Jessica Kingsley Publishers in 2016.