Duck, Death and the Tulip

This is another book about death that will also make you laugh.

I appreciate how direct this book is while still managing to be tender and sensitive. And the artwork matches the tone of the text well. Death looks both friendly and a little creepy.

It may not be for every family, but I love how oddly funny and heartbreaking this book is. 

As someone who aspires to bring big existential questions into the picture book genre, I find this book incredibly moving and inspiring. Duck meets Death (a skull-headed character). They play together, they sleep together, they ask each other questions, they learn to trust each other.

Without any kind of preachiness in the text and with quiet sophistication in the illustrations, Wolf Erlbruch teaches us that Death is not a grim reaper-like figure that sporadically knocks on our door to take us from this world. Instead, he shows Death as a constant presence, a fundamental part of life that we should… show more.

It may seem like too much to have Death as a character in a child's picturebook. But this book can be a good companion to children's curiosity or their experience of death and loss in their own lives, whether it be of a pet, a loved one, or someone in their community. There is an unafraid normality to the characterisation of Death in this book. This Death is friendly, companionable, and caring. Duck's reaction to Death mirrors what our own might be; a little scared at first, and after a while, there is comfort, care, and acceptance. This might be… show more.