The Fall of Freddie the Leaf

There's a leaf on a tree, and it has other friends who are leaves on the same tree. And the seasons pass, and the leaves all die and fall off the tree, where they “sleep” and their corpses “serve to make the tree stronger” and new leaves will be born.

And there's photographs, but the photographs aren't really interesting, just photographs of leaves and trees.

I'm not really sure what to think about this one. It didn't upset me at first. It's kind of a weird metaphor. People aren't like leaves on a tree. They're just not. Plus, leaves aren't intelligent.

The book isn't religious, so it's got that going for it. For a kid that hasn't yet experienced death, this would be an extremely upsetting book.

It's not bad because the message is bad, but because it fails at getting that message across and what it does get across is just upsetting.

The purpose of a leaf is to give shade to kids, or something like that. It's okay that we die because we had a purpose. But that's bizarre and a strange way to say it.

The dedication says that it is aimed at children who have experienced permanent loss and parents who have trouble explaining it, but I worry that this book will just confuse children instead of being helpful.