I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the cover and was drawn to this book. I like the pictures a lot. But, I didn't love the book. It was okay but kind of heavy.

Originally published in 2009, this award-winning Swedish import is written by the author of the Detective Gordon series. One summer day, Esther found a dead bumblebee and decided to give it a burial ceremony. The narrator of the story, a little boy, helps her by writing a poem about death. The two head out to the secret clearing to dig a grave and plant seeds. Then they set out to find more dead creatures with the help of Puttie, who was a very good crier. They form a business called Funerals, Ltd. and spend their day doing a variety of funerals for animals of all sorts, all in their secret clearing. The final funeral of their day comes when a blackbird hits a window and dies in front of them. They all felt the sadness of that death. And then the next day, they did something different.

I adore Nilsson’s approach to children’s book with his deep understanding of the way that children think and act. This book feels like my childhood, dealing with deep and serious thought one day and moving on. It offers a skillful balance of morose, serious sadness with a sunny summer day, a business idea, and time spent with friends. It’s that juxtaposition and the frank approach of the children toward death that makes this book work so well.

The illustrations by Eriksson really add to the mix of sorrow and sunshine. They are dappled green and gold. Children will appreciate that the dead animals are shown to the reader, tucked into their boxes or on their way to being buried. The final pages with all of the headstones and graves are both humorous and touching.

Funny and serious, just like childhood. Appropriate for ages 6-9.

A great picture book for kids to read about loss and death. Worded well and the poetry bits are beautifully written. A great book,!

When I think of every reason I love this story I can think of every reason someone could dislike this story. This balance between comical and heavy themes is perfection. Writing the story of three children who find dead animals to give funerals couldn’t have been an easy task. Adding in the personalized poems and tantrums/meltdowns makes this almost an impossible task. I think it was done beautifully for such a somber topic. The illustrations lighten the mood but the unpredictable outbursts from on the characters reminds you that it is still serious. Children ages 5 to 10 will hopefully be puzzled by this book just enough to start a dialogue around death.

“A dear little life in the hand, suddenly gone deep in the sand”.
This reminds me of my childhood. A childhood where kids are outside all day discovering life on their own. Three young children create their own startup, funeral services for animals. One determined little girl, who isn’t afraid wants to take care of animals that have passed on. Esther has a keen business sense and a tenderness for creatures. Her business partner is a little apprehensive but just as tender. He forms simple words into beautiful poetry to read at the funeral. There is another little one that tags along and tries to understand what has happened to the animals. We all handle life and death in different ways. The three children may not have made any money but they all learned something that day.

This is most likely a love it or hate it kind of book. It deals very directly with death and burial. The illustrations are beautiful. If your child is sensitive I’d recommend giving it a pass, otherwise I recommend it.

I actually got a bit lost (in a sweet way!) in this one.. its a lovely, funky length with a unique amount of text, too.. it is heftier than your average picture book, but not quite an early reader or Frog and Toad type book. It was the right amount to get properly transported into the story.

I especially enjoyed the spunky characters with all their little differences — I love the line about the roles as they conduct all these animal funerals: the main girls job is to dig the graves, the narrator main boys job is to write the poems, and the youngest boys job is.... to cry. It’s funny and honest and properly childhood-esquey morbid. Really lovely.

It also just felt like a true summer day.

I will say the art wasn’t my favorite, but the story was delightful and carried it through (and even so there were some frames of the art I liked, it just isn’t a style I love or resonate with much I think).

Regardless, this is definitely worth the read and a great one for the old soul, morbid, wondering little ones in your life. 3rd grade me would’ve devoured this and been like ‘WHY DIDNT I THINK OF THAT!?”... *ditches rock and owl pellet collection to start digging graves*.

You get the idea— it is probably perfect that crowd of kiddos;).

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. Excellent picture book for kids trying to understand death.

This book is great for children struggling with death and loss, not so great if they have not experienced death or loss. Illustrations are done well and wording is easy for children to understand.

Parents are likely to either love or hate this odd little book about death, and kids are likely not to take it nearly as seriously as we do. It's translated from Swedish and you can tell, as we Americans don't write in this style at all (or rather, we don't anymore). It reminds me quite a bit of a similar book, The Dead Bird, by Margaret Wise Brown.

The book tells the story of a little boy, his bossy big sister, and his little brother (or at least some smaller child they bring along on their adventures). The big sister gets the idea to start a funeral business for dead animals and the narrator offers to write the poems. The little brother is brought along because he's good at crying for the animals. The artwork is beautiful and it's written in the style of kids' books where they take themselves very seriously. And no, it's not written for mothers who want to warn you not to touch dead things with bare hands or teachers who want you to work in information about how other cultures treat death or naturalists who want you to talk about how dead things should just be left alone or grown ups who want all the characters to be likeable and perfect and sweet. It's just a little children's story about the ways these three very different children think about death, business, poetry, and what might be a good plan for a day with nothing to do.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this story for the purpose of review.

Apparently, European authors like writing children's books about death. When I think back over the ones I've read recently, most seem to have been written by Europeans. Many of those books are translated, which may be part of the reason I've yet to really love any of them; something is usually lost in translation.

That seems to be the case here in All the Dear Little Animals, which (intentionally or not) comes across as overly Christian, potentially traumatizing, and a bit narcissistic. One day, feeling bored, Esther and her friend (the narrator) start a funeral business for the neighbourhood's dead creatures. Esther buries them, while her friend writes poems to honour them. But Esther soon gets tired of burying insects, and annoyed that people won't recognize her virtue (or pay her for her services). All is well, however, when they find a dead hare and then a stunned blackbird. By the end of the day, the kids are feeling overly proud of themselves... but the book ends by implying that all this funeral business was just a whim, and the kids are going to move on to doing something else.

I get that maybe the book's trying to show kids as they really are, but children don't come off very well here. Some of the statements made reminded me a little too much of Trump:

"We were very kind and good, looking after the dead animals. We were the nicest people in the world."

A few more things bothered me about this one. First is the fact that Esther felt the need to bury everything, ignoring the fact that nature takes care of these things in its own way. Insects, birds, and rodents won't break down as well if they're encased in cigar boxes (or suitcases!). Second, I don't like the way the Christian view of burial is pushed. This could've been an opportunity to teach about various death practices... but instead, all the dead critters get burials with hymns. And that's after they're baptized. Third, I don't like the way sleeping and death are conflated. That's a recipe for trauma and sleepless nights right there. And fourth... oh, poor Little One. When a bird flies into a window and stops moving, it isn't necessarily dead. Sometimes it's just stunned. But the kids buried it anyway!

The illustrations here are kind of cute, but I'm really not a fan of the narrative. It has the potential to be confusing for young children, and it features a very unlikable protagonist in Esther. When all is said and done, she just comes across as someone who does "good" deeds because she wants recognition... not because it's the right thing to do. (The fact that the funeral business is abandoned the very next day pretty much undermines any message about kindness or respect for the dead.)

Overall, I don't think I'd recommend this one. For some better books about death and/or grieving, you might try Cry, Heart, But Never Break by Glenn Ringtved, Maybe Dying Is Like Becoming a Butterfly by Pimm van Hest, Always Remember by Cece Meng, or My Big, Dumb, Invisible Dragon by Angie Lucas.

This is an odd take on death and dying, probably because it is a Swedish translation.

This tells the story of some kids getting bored, and deciding to spend the day having funerals for all the animals they find. They baptise the ones they don't know the names for, so they have names on their crosses and then they say a few words.

They aren't really sad about it, because they don't know the animals, but they show them respect.

<img src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/all-the-dear-little-animals.png" alt="" width="755" height="1071" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5449" />

<img src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/all-the-dear-little-animals-1.png" alt="" width="1514" height="1074" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5450" />

It is a little removed from the usual stories about death and dying in children's literature. There is no other emotion besides, here is something to do, although the youngest gets upset that this will happen to him one day.

And then the next day, they move on to something else.

Not sure if this is the best way to teach about death, but it certainly is different.

I found it a bit to odd for me.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Reminds me of when I was young and my friends and I buried critters of ours, or found ones, in our cemetery! Certainly gave me a bit of a laugh! But, sweet story for grieving children. Or explaining death to young ones. I love foreign books in translation, a little insight into other cultures and how they see things. I loved the illustrations. Just so sweet! I'd get this as a gift to add to a child's collection.