Water Bugs and Dragonflies: Explaining Death to Young Children, A Coloring Book Paperback – Coloring Book, June 1, 2009

Good book. Helps to start discussion with kids.

This book was very helpful for explaining death to my 3 year old and 6 year old when our dog passed on. They would ask me read it to them a bunch of times over the first couple of weeks and they always felt a little better after.

My first purchase of this book was for myself. I love Dragonflies. However, when there was a death and there young children who were affected by this death, I knew I had to purchase a copy of this book for the family. This family has let me know how much their children have appreciated the book and how they are using it. What I love is that it explains death to children (and adults) in a language that is natural and metaphorical. So, the story is told at two levels like any worthy allegory is supposed to be told. It is a gentle and loving approach to death. While I put 8 as the age, other ages were involved as well.

Although this was written for children, I have sometimes slipped this in with sympathy cards for adults.

Hard to read because of the artwork confusion. Good story, thoygh.

One of these books was given to me when my loved one passed away for my children. It helped all six small kids think about and understand as much as possible about death. I bought this to have on hand in case someone I know may need it.

I heard this book read at a funeral and fell in love with it. It is quite comforting as we are told of water bugs who live under water say they will come back and tell their loved ones what happens when at some point each water bug leaves and never returns. Alas, the mystery remains. Becoming a dragonfly means coming back to submerge themselves in water is now impossible.Kids and especially adults will appreciate this story.

Update July 18, 2016. I placed another order for this book. You can't always tell what the book will look like when it arrives from the description. This one is very small and looks like the photo. I have received other larger books with nice graphics. This does not have the nice graphics. It does still tell the original story which I still think is great.This book is my number one pick for dealing with a loss. Some kids don't want to see death as the central point of a book. They are already sad or scared. This book relays and important message about the the physical absence and the continuation of life without specifically dealing with death. We see that even though one is not with the group it was with, it is still living in another form. I love this book so much, I'm ordering a copy to donate to my local library.