Michael Rosen’s Sad book
Most children in KS2 will have heard of the poet Michael Rosen so start by asking them what they know about him and his poetry. They may know that he nearly died of Covid-19 during the height of the pandemic and wrote about his experience. They may know that his son Eddie died. Explain that this book is about Michael’s experience of the grief he felt after Eddie died. The children may see similarities in Michael’s experience with their own and you might want to read this book together in a more stop and start way so they can respond to what happens in the book as you read it together. Make sure that you tell the children that even though this book is called Michael Rosen’s Sad Book, it actually can make us laugh too! And that’s ok, allow them to feel free to laugh too during the reading if they want to.
Key Questions to ask after reading the book:
What does grief feel like?
What other emotions can it make you feel?
What can you do when you feel sad?
How does that help you?
Use the above questions to guide your discussion around this book. Encourage a discussion about the book - answering the questions as Michael would - and then discuss the children’s personal answers to the questions - learning from the book.
Activity: Decorating a picture frame
Turn to Quentin Blake’s final illustration in the book and ask the children what they see. Ask them what they think is in the picture frame Michael is looking at. It’s likely to be a photo of a happy memory of Eddie. Explain that they are going to decorate their own picture frame which they can take home to put a special photo in for themselves.
Blank photo frames can be bought in a craft shop or you can make them with strong cardboard. In this session, ask the children to decorate their photo frame with words, phrases and/or pictures of things that remind them of their special person who has died. You can use pens, paints, pencil crayons… glitter, stickers, pompoms, buttons… the list goes on!
During this activity encourage the children to share happy memories of their loved one who has died and explore how it feels to talk about these happy memories.
Ending the session:
Ask each child if they would like to share their photo frame with the group and possibly the happy memories they were thinking whilst they were decorating it. They may have a photo in mind to put into the frame when they go home and would like to share that with the group. Hopefully, they felt good thinking about happy memories of their loved one during this session. Even though the person we love has died, we can still enjoy talking about them and sharing our memories of them with others. Emphasise with the children that it is important for them to do so.
Finally, plant a seed of thought… Michael used his gift for writing to think about (process) his strong feelings of grief after Eddie died. Have the children done anything similar? Perhaps they’ve written in a journal or drawn in a sketch book. It’s never too late to start and using a creative process is an incredibly powerful and successful way for people of all ages to process their grief. This discussion may encourage a bereaved child in your group to have a go, let them know that you are there if they would like to share it with you or to discuss the idea further with them.