I just read an interesting article by Angie Wagner over at AOL Australia Lifestyle on Talking to Kids About Death. Wagner has interviewed Diane Cantrell, author of our book “Good-bye, Baby Max,” which is about a kindergarten classroom who deals with the loss of their classroom pet. Diane provides a lovely honest perspective on talking about death with little kids, offering the advice to not be afraid of discussing it with your children.

My favourite children’s book review podcast, Just One More Book, is coming up to it’s 400th episode this July… and to celebrate the love of reading they’ve invited children’s book illustrators to come up with a logo for their website. Mark & Andrea are a lovely couple whose love of reading with their children is truly apparant through their podcasts… they’ve received some great submissions already, including this awesome one by one of my favourite illustrators/writers, Oliver Jeffers… as well as artwork by some very tallented kiddies! Deadline for entries is June 15th, 2008… Happy drawing!

Author Lisa Chalifoux just took part in an interview over at Blog Talk Radio, and shares a little about her experience working with me on our book “Spotty & Eddie Learn to Compromise.” Lisa also chats a bit about her experience with self-publishing her first book.
You can listen to the interview here!

I just read a kind review of my book, “Good-bye, Baby Max” by Lillian Brummet over at Chrsty’s Book Reviews :

“Good-bye Baby Max is a wonderful children’s book for those who are coping with the end of life. A former kindergarten teacher who currently works as a professional counselor and life coach in Texas wrote the hardcover book. The author, Diane Cantrell, states that the book was written to stimulate discussion on a topic that is often difficult to broach.

The illustrations are filled with gold, red, green and blue in the art are filled with activity, creations on the walls by the class and teacher’s lessons displayed here and there. The nature scenes are lovely and occasionally spotted with cute ladybugs - which might be fun to inspire your children find them….

Children will enjoy the opening and closing pages that are filled with tiny yellow chicks…. Rating 4 out of 5 stars.”

I stumbled across another review of my book, “Good-bye, Baby Max” over at TheCelebrityCafe.com by Janet Pope :

“Mrs. B’s kindergarten class anxiously awaited the arrival of three baby chicks, which they have already named. But Max, the last one to hatch, doesn’t make it into the world. The next morning, Mrs. B has to break the sad news to the class. The rest of the story, told in rhyming text, shows how the children and the teacher handle their grief. “Silence falls over the room. Liz and Rob begin to cry. ‘Don’t worry,’ says Mrs. B. ‘We’ll find a way to say good-bye.’”

This simple and tender story takes a look at an occurrence that most every child, unfortunately experiences at least once during their childhood - the death of a class pet or a pet of their own. The colorful illustrations by Heather Castles are soft and muted, adding to the seriousness of the subject. The expressions on the faces of the multi-cultural children are precious and touching.

This a a great book for any young child experiencing a loss, especially appropriate for ages 4 through 8. This is a difficult subject to approach with a young child and this book would ease that conversation.”

Diane & Rich Cantrell just passed this review by Ernest Dempsey onto me for our book, “Good-bye, Baby Max:”

“Many children books are printed each month to amuse kids of varying ages. This colorful, hardcover children’s title Good-bye, Baby Max (Bridgeway Books, Texas, 2007) by Diane Cantrell & Heather Castles is special in its purpose of teaching an invaluable lesson: that of properly saying the final farewell to a loved one who is no more. The book tells the story of the unfortunate baby chick Max who doesn’t make it into life while his twins Dora and Spiderman appear healthy out of their shells. The kids, eagerly awaiting the birth of the chicks, are heartbroken over the death of Baby Max and so their teacher uses her wisdom and care to lead them toward the appropriate way of showing their love and expressing their grief.

The importance of involving children in mourning is increasingly being acknowledged by developmental psychologists since children do sense the loss no matter how much they are coaxed into believing that ‘everything is ok.’ By being left out with the ‘mystery’, their wee minds are inclined to conclude that something terribly wrong has happened; something that is not worth speaking. This sows the seeds of fear and detachment in their mental development. Being a Licensed Professional Counselor and former KG teacher, Diane Cantrell has created a very purposeful book for children-one that is at once a story, a poem, and a healthy course of helping children get over grief. The book’s illustrations by Heather Castles are very appealing to a child’s imagination. There is a good deal here in Good-bye, Baby Max to learn for children ages 4 to 8 years and the 32-pages book is a must read for all kids of this age category.”

Aw, this really made my day… our book “Spotty & Eddie Learn to Compromise” just had a lovely review over at the Just One More Book podcast! I didn’t even realize my colleague, author Lisa M. Chalifoux, had sent a copy of our book to Mark & Andrea! Funny thing is, I’m still waiting to flip through a hard copy of the book myself… my copies arrive from Canada with my folks when they visit me in Australia for the birth of my first baby in 3 weeks. Anyway, enough rambling, you can click here to read the comments & listen to the podcast at Just One More Book!