Every Child Needs Sad Books

by Addy Farmer et al

A story of friendship

Charlotte's Web, by E.B. White is a story about two friends - a naive, young pig, Wilbur, and a wise, kind spider, Charlotte. When Charlotte is dying, Wilbur is distraught and asks her:

“Why did you do all this for me?' he asked. 'I don't deserve it. I've never done anything for you.'
"You have been my friend," replied Charlotte. "That in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my webs for you because I liked you. After all, what's a life, anyway? We're born, we live a little while, we die. A spider's life can't help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a little of that." 

Charlotte's Web by E.B White

Did I cry when I read these words - yes. Friendship will get me every time. It can be messy and complicated and it can be noble and self-sacrificing. Such a simple sentiment, 'You have been my friend.' and yet it's laden with a whole lifetime of feeling and experience. When I read this, I don't just think about the beautiful friendship of Wilbur and Charlotte but I relate it to my own experience of friendships and how it might feel should this relationship end with the death of a friend.

Okay, so, this is one of my all time favourite picture books. We have a tattered big book copy which was read and read to all the children. I barely had to look at the words to recall them. But I always had a catch in my throat here ...
"Then Bella did something very kind.'

I can barely say that line which sounds ridiculous but it is redolent with the practical-big-sister love Bella has for her brother. There is also the happy resolution of the MASSIVE problem (when you're 3) of losing a companion/toy. Shirley Hughes has a wonderful eye and ear for the way small children are and consequently we invest in their characters and dilemmas quickly. My children never cried when I read the story though, which makes me think that some younger readers are more Bellas than Daves. Unless they're baby Joes and he's just too dribbly.

If you want to read Kate Saunders' amazing book, prepare yourselves for Serious Tears. The Psammead is a sand fairy, thousands of years old, and it's a bit of a heartless monster. By the end of the book, the death of a young man brings about an epiphany:

"I'm awfully glad you're here. Can you stay with me?'
'Yes, my dear,' the Psammead said and gently stroked Cyril's cheek with his paw. 'I'll never leave you now.' 

From heartless to heartbroken. The moment is terrible and wonderful. And it left me crying at the transformation of the Psammead as well as the lost generation of young men killed in the first world war.  

Nooooooooooooo!

As a rule, I find that I cannot bear to read sad stories which involve animals which means that I have never read 'Black Beauty' or 'Warhorse'. Neither have I written a story with an animal as the central character. For me, it's too sad. I don't know why, maybe it's to do with their trusting nature and relative simplicity of character. Maybe I should challenge myself - that's what brilliant stories like this do to the reader.

Some less obviously sad books make me well up. 'Not Now Bernard' by David McKee is the story of Bernard whose parents ignore him when he wants their attention. They do not notice when he is eaten by the monster. They do not notice when the monster wants their attention. They are terrible parents. They did not deserve Bernard. The story-telling is relaxed and funny and my children laughed their little heads off but I always felt sad at the end and that lost child stays with me even now.

 
Maybe the saddest book ever; Michael Rosen's, 'The Sad Book'. It is not a book on how to deal with grief. It is an observation and exploration of the author's anguish at the death of his son and it is beautiful and true.

What follows is a brief list of sad books from SCBWI members.  Please don't leave this blog feeling sad, rather feel uplifted that we can produce such incredible human stories. There are so many marvellous books which make me cry. They do so with understatement and clear language and never become sentimental. They are books which confront our most challenging experiences and deal with difficult emotions. They rehearse life and all its experiences. They tell us that we not alone.

Every child needs sad books.

'The War that Saved My Life' by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley moved me to tears, although I won't reveal why, as I don't want to give anything away for those who have yet to read it.

Kathryn Evans Oh me too! And so many books - Private Peaceful, Watership Down - books whose characters burrow under your skin and leave you ripped apart when they die...

Unlike · Reply · 2 · June 7 at 11:34am

Meredith Vigh 'The Circus Ship' by Chris Van Dusun always brings a lump to my throat - its just a lovely, heartwarming story. And 'Charlotte's Web'

Unlike · Reply · 2 · June 7 at 1:47pm

Jeannie Waudby The Book Thief.

Unlike · Reply · 1 · June 7 at 7:45pm

Jo Dearden I'll second Charlotte's Web (read it to both my daughters on separate occasions and blubbed both times)

Unlike · Reply · 3 · June 7 at 10:16pm

Jo Dearden I also cry at the Picture Book 'Dear Greenpeace' - not sure why, it's not especially sad, just something about it gets me every time...

Unlike · Reply · 1 · June 7 at 10:19pm

Candy Gourlay Dogger!

Unlike · Reply · 1 · June 7 at 11:17pm

Sarah Broadley Guess How Much I love You and Monkey Puzzle. Books that make you go aw!

Unlike · Reply · 1 · June 8 at 2:42pm

Susan Brownrigg Private Peaceful and Goodnight Mister Tom.

Unlike · Reply · 2 · June 8 at 2:46pm

Nicola Keller I have a childhood memory of sobbing at Gobbelino the Witch's cat, and my babysitter being terrified that my mum would think SHE made me cry.

Unlike · Reply · 1 · June 8 at 3:34pm

Claire Watts Ways to live forever by Sally Nicholls. Pure brilliance.

Unlike · Reply · 2 · June 8 at 3:53pm

Olivia Levez Inconsolable after this one!

Like · Reply · 1 · June 9 at 1:44pm

Write a reply...

Meredith Vigh Also ''Library Lion" - that one chokes me up a bit at the end for some reason!

Unlike · Reply · 1 · June 8 at 4:02pm

Claire Watts I've discussed books that made me cry several times with top-end primary children and find that things that have me in floods don't make them cry at all and in fact they think it's a bit odd of me to suggest that it might.

Unlike · Reply · 3 · June 8 at 4:20pm

Suzanne Afford Ways to Live forever, Before I Die by Jenny Downham, A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, that one had me sobbing!

Like · Reply · June 9 at 7:57am

Suzanne Afford And Code Name Verity!

Like · Reply · June 9 at 8:16am

Sarah Jane Ling I love a good cry!  Olivia Levez's The Island made me cry. Other recent blubs include: My Sister Lives On The Mantelpiece; Pobby and Dingan (sob!) and John Birnigham's Grandpa.

Like · Reply · 2 · June 9 at 9:52am

Jo Dearden Pobby and Dingan! I read that in a Granta collection years ago. Best. Short. Story EVER!!! Magical and gut-wrenchingly true at the same time...

Like · Reply · 1 · June 9 at 2:18pm

Sarah Jane Ling Agree - that last chapter is so sad!

Like · Reply · June 9 at 8:42pm

Write a reply...

Olivia Levez That awful scene in Goodnight Mister Tom. (I used to teach this one and always had to get a pupil to read it aloud because my voice would start breaking up.) A Monster Calls. Ways to Live Forever. Do they have to be children's ones? The final scenes in...See More

Like · Reply · 1 · June 9 at 1:53pm

Nikki Sheehan God, I'm so damaged by that scene in Goodnight Mr Tom. I can't believe they let him put it in! Brilliant but just so brutal

Like · Reply · 1 · June 9 at 2:08pm

Claire Watts I have only read The Last Battle once though I have read the others countless times. I wish I could unread it.

Like · Reply · 1 · June 9 at 5:06pm

View more replies

Write a reply...

Christina Banach So many to choose from, including Elizabeth Wein's amazing Rose Under Fire. That really moved me.

Like · Reply · June 9 at 6:27pm

Lorna Murphy Just finished 'Five Children on the Western Front' and I am now a mess. Brilliant book.

Like · Reply · 1 · June 9 at 6:56pm

Sarah Jane Ling Time Traveler's Wife.

Like · Reply · June 9 at 8:44pm

Write a comment...

What if I just don't feel like it? Using acting skills in your writing.

I started writing  a completely different post to this but recent events have put me in a dark mental place and I suspect I'm not the only one.

First there was Orlando. There are no words for the pointless destruction wrought on the people in the night club there. I'm not going to share any more of that hate though, I'm going to share a bit of love:

And then...I won't go into politics here,  but most of you reading this will be well aware that the UK is having a referendum on whether or not to leave the EU.  I  attempted to engage in debate about this - true, informed, educated debate designed to help all involved, including myself, have a better picture of the potential impact of the referendum result.

I was polite, restrained, mildly funny and I got completely trolled on twitter for it. Nasty, aggressive, rude, sometimes moderately informed, always biased and vile team trolling. I withdrew. There was no debate to be had, I was hunted by a group of campaigners actively requesting assistance to "Take down this b*tch."

And now Jo Cox, Labour M.P. for Batley and Spen,  has been killed and I don't know if it has anything to do with the referendum but I can't help but feel the  nature of some quarters of the campaign verbally  reflect precisely the aggressive  and violent actions that brought this young woman's life to an end.

I am tearful. I am sad. I am in no mood to write - but....

I have a book to finish.

So how do you control your mood so you can effectively produce what's needed on the page?


1. Listen to music. 

Music can turn your mood around - you can pump up your heart rate or swell with emotion if you choose the right sound track. I never listen to music when I'm writing ( well, rarely, sometimes classical tracks) but I often do to get me in the mood before writing.  Guaranteed mood changers for me are:

• Eminem's Lose Yourself is my power up track.

• Pharrell Williams Happy  to cheer me up: 

• Coldplay's Fix You to make me weepy:

2. Pretend:

 I used to be an actor, where pretend is your bread and butter. Here are a few simple tricks for you:

•  If you're down and you need to not be,  force yourself to smile - this can genuinely work.
•  If you need to write something upbeat and strong try the Wonderwoman stance. Stand up, raise both arms in a V above your head then bring your fists down to your hips, arms akimbo. Job done. You are powered up.
• Need to write a sad scene but you're full of the joys of spring? This is hard, be prepared to dig deep - think about something really sad that happened to you. Touch all the emotion but don't let it swallow you - this is work, you are using your experience for your writing  so you need to control it.
• Stand in front of a mirror and act out your character's part - be sincere and note how your feelings actually feel.

3. Write something else:

If you really aren't in the mood to write your  touching romance scene, don't. Work on something else. If you're angry, where can you use that emotion in your book? Write that scene instead.

4. Step away from your desk:

Sometimes, no matter what you do, you can't shake off the mood you're in and you can't put it to good use. Accept it. You're human. Walk the dog. Make a cup of tea. Eat some chocolate (dark chocolate is genuinely a mood enhancer). Put some dance music on and clean the house. And if you just need to be sad for a bit, that's OK too.


In the light of what's happened recently, I want to recommend a couple of books that make you think and might just make the world a better place.

Jeannie Waudby's One of Us  
Robin Talley's Lies We Tell Ourselves.
Lisa Williamson's The Art of Being Normal.

Please make your own recommendations in the comments section.

Play nice. Be kind. Let's be better.

Kathryn Evans is the author of More of Me: A gripping thriller with a sinister sci-fi edge, exploring family, identity and sacrifice. She has been nominated for  The Edinburgh Festival First Book award, you can vote for her book here: 

Tommy Donbavand: Learning From the Best

by Jo Wyton


A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article for this blog about the usefulness of finding a good network as a writer. Not long after voyaging into the world of Actually Talking To Other People, I signed up for a writing retreat (which you can read an article on here). I don't really know what I was expecting, but I do know that I turned up on the first night a bit of a trembling mess, really. I recall a room full of people sitting on the floor listening to a talk on building a platform (I think. The nerves really were terrible. It might've been a talk on koala bears for all I would've noticed.)

Mostly the nerves were because I hadn't really met many published authors. I had met some at the end of teetering signing queues. And I think it's fair to say that some of those had ended with me nearly getting 'Never Meet Your Heroes' tattooed on my forehead, but quite frankly my forehead is big enough without calling further attention to it. 

This particular writing retreat had as its Writer in Residence a certain Tommy Donbavand. It was a great few days - cake, wine, writing - but my favourite moment was something unrelated to the main business of the retreat.

This is Tommy. See? Serious Business.

This might be a good time to point out that this article is a little different from those that normally appear on this blog, but it's part of something Big. Important. Put That Piece Of Cake You're About To Eat Down And Pay Attention Important. Because Tommy has cancer.
And he needs the support of fellow writers.

And he didn't turn out to be terrifying, after all. In fact, he's one of the nicest bloody people I have ever met.

My favourite moment of the retreat? Several drinks into Saturday night festivities, along with another published author, we retreated into one of the classrooms to... that's right - gather around Tommy's iPad to watch Doctor Who. That's right. Doctor Who. And it was an AWESOME episode.

But what was important was that Tommy invited me in. Made me feel like being a Published Author wasn't an exclusive club. Not an unreachable dream but a much-dreamed-of reality. 

He also, incidentally, introduced me to somebody - the other published author staring at the iPad, waiting for the internet to reconnect in time for the big reveal at the episode's end? He's now my other half.

Tommy shooting Tim Collins (said other half) with a balloon crossbow. Because cakes and wine can't keep you entertained forever.

So I have quite a bit to repay Tommy, you see. This blog isn't much of a way of doing that, I don't suppose, but I do genuinely think that meeting Tommy played a big part in my existence as a writer, and I'd only encourage others who haven't spoken to many published authors to seek them out. They were once dreamers, too, and they're really very nice (the occasional signing queue aside).

And if you feel like supporting Tommy, who's had to give up the school visits that sustain him financially, you can do one of three things:

1. Buy a copy of Doctor Who: Shroud of Sorrow (which is, naturally, brilliant fun for kids, with a few serious bits thrown in - reviewed here)

2. Enter one of the fabulous competitions being run. You can win TONNES of books. They will appear on some of the blogs, which are listed on the image at the bottom of this blog. The first one can be found here.

3. Visit his blog. Join his Patreon scheme, where you sign up to loads of 'how to write' content.

4.

(Yes, I know I said three, but it's a good one.)

4. Leave a comment on his blog. Offer some support on Twitter or Facebook. Or just raise a glass to his continuing brilliance and friendliness and to your own dreaming. Go on.