About This Book
Reach for this book when your child is facing the initial, heavy waves of grief after losing a pet or a loved one. Jon J. Muth uses his beloved Stillwater the Giant Panda character to help children process the permanence of death and the universality of loss. When Addy's kitten, Trumpet, is hit by a car, she asks Stillwater for a medicine to bring him back. Stillwater sets her on a task to find a cup of sugar from a home that has never known death. Through her journey, Addy discovers that every neighbor has lost someone they love, transforming her isolation into a shared human experience. This is a gentle, philosophically grounded choice for children aged 4 to 8 who are struggling with the question of why things must die. It provides a quiet space for empathy and helps children understand that while loss is inevitable, we do not have to carry it alone.
