Books I Love: “Can You Hear Me, Daddy?”

I don’t know about you, but when I start something new, I dive into it head first. So, when I started writing “Little Monster Adventures”, I started reading children’s books like I had young children again (it’s been a while for me). What I remembered, when I started my research, is how much I truly love the children’s literature genre. I have been finding gems that I just can’t keep to myself so I thought I would start sharing. I am so excited to tell you about, “Can You Hear Me, Daddy?”

This book is a great book to start with because it deals with the opposite subject of “The New Arrival” which is probably one of the hardest subjects to broach with children or sometimes anyone, death. That’s why this book is wonderful because the author does the most amazing job at taking something, not just difficult but downright depressing, and turning it into a beautiful story and tribute to her father. Death is a fact of life but we tend not to want to upset children by discussing it. Then, when they have to deal with it, it becomes that much harder. Y.Y. Chan takes us on a journey through the illness of the father, through his death, but depicts this journey with love, affection, and the understanding of two important things. The first one is that the more you love someone, the deeper the grief. The second thing is that our loved ones stay with us in our hearts forever so the person may be gone physically but the love lasts. Books provide many benefits to children but I believe an essential element is to provide future awareness and tools to deal with life’s difficulties. If you were to adopt a Buddhist philosophy, suffering and death are inevitable. The key to minimizing suffering is to be mentally prepared for challenging emotional situations. A child dealing with grief could benefit from this book immensely whether the adults in their life are able to effectively communicate about the situation or not. Actually, adults may benefit from this book as well. If you would like your own copy, click on the link above and happy reading!