Michael Rosen's Sad Book

Product Information

It begins with a picture of Rosen looking happy, with text explaining that he is sad and only pretending to be happy.

During his time in the role, he celebrated children's books and children's book illustration with a range of projects and exhibitions, and conceived the idea for the House of Illustration, the world's first centre dedicated to the art of illustration in all its forms. The book chronicles Rosen's grief over the loss of his son Eddie, who died of meningococcal septicaemia aged 18. Quentin was the inaugural Children's Laureate (1999-2001), an experience he recorded in his book Laureate's Progress.Having read Michael Rosen's poetry throughout my childhood- full of hilarious and fun stories of Eddie as a little boy and later a big brother, it is clear how adored he was by his Dad.

Rosen said that the book arose after a group of children asked him questions about his son's death and they were able to discuss it in a "matter-of-fact" way.It wasn't made like any other book either; Michael Rosen said of the text, " I wrote it at a moment of extreme feeling and it went straight down onto the page .