Benny and Penny in How to Say Goodbye is the sixth book featuring these bickering siblings and, as always, Geoffrey Hayes captures the intense and fleeting emotions that young children feel and how they make sense of the world around them perfectly. And, as always, his illustrations are marvelously charming and the natural world that the mice live in gently beautiful. Hayes's graphic novel series is perfect for emerging readers looking for something beyond Frog & Toad and Amelia Bedelia.
In How to Say Goodbye, Hayes has his mice brother and sister encounter death. While playing together in the fall leaves, Penny finds a salamander she named Little Red. She knows that it is dead, having a grasp of what death it. Benny reacts with anger, throwing the salamander into the bushes.
Penny gets help from Melina and the two make plans for Little Red, Benny skulking around the edges of their activities. As the they prepare for the burial, Benny and Penny have memories of Little Red, each feeling their grief in their own ways. They also find ways to honor the life of the salamander. As the story draws to an end, another salamander appears and a new friendship begins.
You can read my reviews of other
Benny & Penny books here
Source: Review Copy
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a new one! SQUEEEEE!
I know!! I hope these little mice never grow up and that Hayes never gets tired of them...
Your review makes me want to give these books another try. My kids brought home Benny and Penny and the Big No-No from the library and I wasn't crazy about it. But I think it may mostly have been the gender stereotyping the characters do at the beginning when discussing whether it is better if the new neighbor is a boy or a girl. But my kids liked the book so I'll look out for this one