This Book Is For All Kids
by Jack Simon, age 5
as told to his mom, usually at bedtime
For more than 20 years, This Book Is for All Kids has been a starting point for loving conversations about grief and hope. Praised by educators, parents, and professionals, and used in groups including the American Hospice Foundation and Oklahoma City’s The Kid’s Place, This Book Is for All Kids has become a source of comfort for people of all ages and faiths.
Ultimately, This Book Is for All Kids is for anyone who’s lost a loved one. (Andrews McMeel; Idea University Press)
–– The One Show for Design
–– Best Use of Print, American Advertising Foundation
PRAISE
“For opening a discussion about death, no book is more direct … Grief and hope spill onto intensely colored pages.”
— Publishers Weekly
“Simple, frank and powerful. The text and art are bold and expressive. Uplifting.”
— Jean Nash Johnson, The Dallas Morning News
“When five-year-old Jack struggled to understand the truth about his sister, Libby, he ended up revealing an even greater truth to thousands of other children.”
— Woman’s World, The Woman’s Weekly
“So how does an inquisitive, sensitive five-year-old come to terms with the death of his sister? Jack asked his mother questions … that eventually became a book meant to help youngsters coping with loss find comfort and the freedom to make inquiries of their own.”
— Margaret Jaworski, Family Circle
“A child’s-eye view of a subject most adults find too distressing to talk about. His thoughts bear a remarkable simplicity, an honesty. ‘How do angels grow those wings…? Do they come with wing instructions? Wouldn’t it be funny if you had wings coming out of your eyeballs? Or on your butt? HaHaHaHaHa.’ ‘Hey, Libby. Did you get the balloons we flew up for your birthday?’ It’s the rare picture book indeed that can reduce a grown woman to tears at her office desk.”
— Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje, The San Antonio Express-News
“Poignant, humorous, sad and hopeful. Spiritual, yet non-denominational.”
— Dr. Alan Wolfelt, Center for Loss and Life Transition
“At first glance, strikingly simple, with bold illustrations. Yet, it’s exactly this simplicity that provides enough stretching room for the complex human imagination, encouraging a wandering, domino-effect exchange about life and loss … Fills a woefully empty niche with uncluttered insight, humor, raw honesty and subtle reverence.”
— AustinMama.com
“Jack doesn’t mince words. Libby died. She doesn’t expire, pass away, go to sleep or any of the other euphemisms used by adults. Although it looks like a child’s book, it’s actually material for adults and children to read and discuss together.”
— Joan T. Hollier, The Sunday Sun
“The questions that haunted 5-year-old Jack after the death of his sister, Libby … resulted in a book written with his mother, Annette, to help other children deal with the death of a loved one.”
— Mike Harden, The Columbus Dispatch
“Gives kids the chance to ask questions, to know that they are not alone or the only ones with twisted and knotted feelings. It’s warm. It’s sensitive. It’s powerful.”
— Mom-Spot.com
