Good-bye, Baby Max by Diane Cantrell , Heather Castles Search Amazon for other books by or about Diane Cantrell. Rating: Reviewed by: John L. Hoh, Jr.

Society today is different from when I grew up (and I must be getter older because my grandfather and father uttered those same words and I always vowed never to repeat them). One area is in how we deal with death. Specifically, how our children deal with death, or maybe it's that we try to shelter them from death. When was there a tragedy involving a student who died and the school did not have grief counselors? In my day (there I go again) we didn't know what a grief counselor was.

This book takes a look at how children may face death. I do wonder how traumatic the death could be on the children. Baby Max is a chick who seems to have died in hatching (a still-hatch?). It's not like the children would have had an emotional attachment (unless they became attached to the eggs in the incubator).

And when the teacher announces Max has died, it seems children understand the concept, or at the least what to do. One boy remembers a funeral when his grandmother died. Another remembers a relative's memorial service with the singing of songs. So the children plan a funeral for Baby Max, complete with pictures and memories.

Meanwhile, the chicks who did live do have a lesson about life going on as well.

Overall I like the lesson of death and dying in this book, or at least one's reaction to death. It stayed away from any discussion about an after-life (I guess too close to a religious element with faith).