The Goodbye Boat by Mary Joslin

The Goodbye Boat Reviews

• 
  Ruth Bonetti

  A lovely book to share with children when grieving a loved one. Beautifully illustrated.
• 
  Miss Leinbach

  Well, it's a picture book. Realistic fiction? Self-Help? Allegory?
  K-2
  
  I am confused. I think the point was the boat is symbolic of the children in the story losing their grandmother when she dies... but the very few words on each page weren't clear, and while the illustrations do seem to portray the two children being sad and the absence of the grandmother, I was disappointed in this book. I am interested if maybe children respond better to the book than I did? But not enough to make a point of reading it to them.
  
  I may keep it in my classroom library since it is a very low density book to read, and perhaps it will surprise me when read by a child?
• 
  Christy

  Saying goodbye to someone you love is always hard. Saying goodbye when someone you love dies is perhaps the hardest thing of all. Joslin's simple, thoughtful text and Little's evocative illustrations explore the pain and grief of saying goodbye and open the door to discussion for readers of any age. The Goodbye Boat provides a message of hope that sadness will ease and comforts with the reassurance that death is not the end.
• 
  Mallori

  Summary: This story is about two children who lose their grandmother. It is the perfect book to read to children who are dealing with death of a loved one. It explains that when a loved one dies it is normal to be upset for a little while, but the hope of the sadness fading will eventually occur and death is not the end.
  
  Reading Level: Ages 4-8
  
  Genre: Picture Book
  
  Uses: Guided Reading, Independent Reading, Read-Aloud, Shared Reading
  
  Social Issues: This book is great to read to children when discussing death with children. It can be a hard issue to talk about but reading books that explain it helps.
  
  Literary Elements: Symbolism is used to show death in a gentler way. When issues such as death can be sugarcoated, but explained in the correct way, it makes the discussion easier.
  
  Text & Image: The text could not stand alone. It needs the illustrations to create the complete picture and the message being conveyed.
• 
  Julie Kendrick

  Good grief (no pun intended). This is the most awful thing I've ever read. There is one or two words per page which does nothing to explain grief at all. Whoever this author is, she got money for old rope for this book. I'm in the wrong job.
• 
  Elizabeth

  This is the most gentle and uplifting book about the acceptance of death that I know. (picture book)
• 
  Samantha

  The illustrations were nice, but the story felt choppy. There wasn't much focus on the boat...but its called teh Goodbye Boat. I got the Goodbye part, but there should have been more Boat. =?
• 
  Jack

  Age Range: 5 and up
  Grade Level: Kindergarten and up