Customer Reviews

The Tenth Good Thing About Barney

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A good book but a little to old for a 3 year old to understand the death of his dog .

I finally read this book after years and years of hearing it hyped as the perfect book to help a child deal with the loss of a pet, so I expected a lot.

It's not a bad book. I've always liked Judith Viorst's wry voice that seems to capture children's unsure moments so perfectly, and "...Barney" has a lot of that.

The particular details of the story are even good -- I love that the boy's mother wraps Barney in a piece of cloth before they bury him. I love that the boy's best friend attends the funeral to hear him recite the nine best things about Barney. I love the little argument they have after the funeral, about whether Barney is really in heaven, or if he's just in the ground.

But the book takes a jarring twist when the boy decides what the 10th good thing about Barney is. The 10th good thing is basically that Barney is dead and rotting. OK, OK -- dead and rotting and therefore helping flowers to grow. Life will come from his death, and yes, that is the message.

But really. Basically the 10th good thing about Barney is that he's dead and rotting. I'm a fairly morbid person, very interested in the process of death and decomposition, but I think the ending of this story is too morbid to present to young children at the end of this otherwise sweet, sentimental story. It doesn't seem to fit.

Beautifully simple and sensitive portrayel. Could be a comfort for all ages. Keep it in your library to read and reread. Similar to BOOMERANG - A MIRACLE TRILOGY, which is also a tale for all ages about dealing with the pain of pet loss and grief.

The little boy who is the narrator of this book has just had his pet cat Barney die. He can only think of nine good things about Barney, until the day after the funeral, when he spends the day in the garden with his father. The plot is extremely simple and spare, but the book depicts grief very well, and so we understand just how broken-hearted the little boy is, and how much he loved his cat. The Tenth Good Thing About Barney is an excellent springboard for families of every religious persuasion (including agnostics and atheists) to discuss what they feel happens after we die. My bright, perceptive and sensitive four-year-old has been asking a lot of questions lately -- about birth and death -- and I used this book to explain death to him. The book was extremely powerful for him, and helped him to put into words many questions that he had, and helped me to answer them for him as best I could. The writing is excellent, and perfectly captures the voice of a young boy, and the illustrations are elegant. It's a classic book, and belongs in every library.

I hadn't read this book in years, then we found out our cat was dying. This is going to be my husband's first pet loss, so I had to find this book. Not only does this book show that it is O.K. to grieve over a pet, it shows that death is a part of life, and death is needed to continue the life cycle. Yes, this book is written for children, but sometime, even us adults need to be reminded that a pet is a large part of our life and loosing them does hurt and that it's not wrong or silly to feel that way.

This has been one of my favorite books, for myself, my friends, and for use in my work with children. The story is simple, touching, and gives a beautifully positive way to cope with any loss--remembering the good things. The story specifically deals with the death of a young boy's cat and the funeral that follows, as well as the concept of the circle of life. The mother in the story asks her son to think of ten good things about the cat. This task helps him remember the things he liked about his cat and takes his mind off the pain he feels. The concept of concentrating on good memories about someone who is gone is excellent, and an easy way to begin the healing process and encourage a child to talk about his feelings. I've even used the idea when I've had to separate from the children I've worked with. I tell them the ten good things I will remember about them. Outstanding book--timeless!!

This book is absolutely, without a doubt, a great book for younger children to cope with the loss of a pet. This book, however, would not be appropriate for the loss of a human life. The author lets the reader know that it is OK to feel sad, to not want to watch TV, or to eat or to go outside and play. But most important of all, that it is OK to cry and feel sad.

The mother and father hold a backyard funeral for Barney, the beloved deceased cat, and the little boy comes up with nine good things to say about Barney. Afterwards, when they plant flowers, he can come up with the tenth good thing about Barney.

Older children will find this too ï¿babyishï¿, I believe, but this book was perfect for my younger children when our beloved dog, Snowball died. Our vet gave us this book, along with the Rainbow Bridge poem. It was very comforting.

The book conveys that we have to honor the grieving and the questions of children as they mourn their beloved pet, whether it is a fish, a dog, a cow, a horse, or whatever pet is important to them. The value of a ï¿ceremonyï¿ is just as important for closure.

I highly recommend this tender book.

As a humane educator, I found this book to be invaluable for teaching children not only about handling the death of a companion animal, but also that the death of a beloved cat should be taken seriously, as do the parents in this book. Also, the child found 9 things to list that were good things about Barney, who she loved very much. But she found difficulty coming up with one more trait. Her father explained beautifully how all things are connected in heaven and earth, among people and animals. This was truly a beautiful and important book.

When our third child died, my husband and I looked for books to help us talk with our older children, then 5 and 4, about death, and this book was recommended to us. It's a really nice book if a pet has died, but since the tenth good thing is that as Barney rots he helps the flowers grow, it's not the best for dealing with the death of a person--the thought of a loved one rotting can be really disturbing for a child.

I purchased this book last week when I found out that our dog of 14 years was to ill to save and would need to be put to sleep. Not only was I dealing with the loss of a beloved pet, but how to discuss this with my 7 year old son who had never experienced any sort of loss. We sat and read this book before we discussed what was about to occur and I truly believe that it helped him cope with the heartache. We began thinking of 10 good things about Molly. I would recommend this book to anyone who is the parent of an animal lover!