Goodbye Mog
Kerr, Judith. (2002) Goodbye Mog. HarperCollins Children's Books edition 2007. Great Britian, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
'Goodbye Mog' is a good example of a children's book dealing with the topic of death. It deals with the death of the cat, Mog (the protagonist of a number of books in Kerr's 'Mog the Forgetful Cat' series) and the way her family deals with this. The plot starts with Mogs death (portrayed as simply her going to sleep and not waking up), and follows her family as they grieve and eventually get a new kitten. The kitten 'isn't a very good kitten' and is scared of everything, Mog's ghost, who has stayed around watching her family, eventually steps in to teach the kitten how to be a 'good kitten'. She then floats up into the sun.
Mog actually dies on the first page of the book. 'Goodbye Mog' is set up in the almost traditional style of childrens books, with illustrations floating in a white page with the text placed near-by. This is a style I'm interesting in avoiding personally.
The soft colour pencil lines the Kerr uses to illustrate really works well to support the gentle feel of the book. This is quiet, dignified approach to dealing with death.
