Why Sad Books are Vital in Kidlit, a guest post by Cassandra Newbould

Years ago, my youngest said when he grew up he’d invent a machine to make me live forever. He said he never wanted me to die. It was the first time I’d heard the fear of death in his voice. Sometime between breakfast and a nap, he’d somehow experienced the gut-punch realization that we have a finite amount of time on this planet. And he wanted an answer. A solution. I think he was three.

I knew it wouldn’t be the last conversation we had about death, loss, and grief, but I think it was the most important. If I stumbled, this fear could become all-consuming. I know from experience. My heart sank. Nobody gives you a cheat code for explanations of this magnitude. What can you say in that situation that won’t rock their world? Sure, I could give him the circle of life speech. But to be honest? In my darkest times of grief I never really care about the circle of life. I want my loved one back. Period.

So there we were, examining our mortality on a random afternoon and I owed him an answer, right? I gave him a giant hug, and then I pointed to the living room where our bookshelf was and said, “You want an invention that makes people immortal? Someone’s already figured out a way to do that.”

The frown lifted a bit but I could see he wasn’t convinced. We walked over and I picked up a book. I said, “We remember our loved ones in the stories we tell each other. Especially when the pain of that loss hurts too much to keep it to ourselves.” 

He nodded trepidatiously. Definitely not convinced. So I asked him what his favorite story was. When he told me, I asked, “On your worst days when you read that book does it make you feel better?” He dipped his head, said, “Sure?”

I said, “That’s the power of a story. It’s a kind of magic, like your machine. It can keep people alive forever.” He looked like he had another massive question building, the doubt was still in his eyes, but then I was saved because my older kiddos ran out the back door and my youngest ran off to chase them. Even during an existential crisis, when you’re three, life is all about the here and now.

However, that conversation kept coming back to me over the years any time I experienced a loss. In our deepest and darkest moments of grief, a single memory can bring us back from the depths of despair. Put a smile on our face. We remember who we’ve lost, and in some small way, we make them eternal any time it happens. Humans find immortality—and evidence that we are not alone in our mourning—through books, paintings, movies, photos, art, and conversation. We can relate, and grieve our losses, through the stories of another’s loss. Because it makes us remember our own. It makes us understand we are not alone.

Someone recently said, “Why write stories about death, sad books don’t sell.”

 I don’t think they actually looked that data up, because if one did, they’d see that some of the absolute bestsellers out there revolve around exactly that.

I feel as a YA writer, my books are for the teens looking for stories that help make their missed ones immortal. To share in the discovery of learning to heal because it’s always revolving and evolving throughout our lives. To help them find out it’s okay to not be okay. To give them a safe space to mourn. To remember.

My YA epistolary debut, THINGS I’LL NEVER SAY, is about a girl whose twin brother died of an overdose. How she comes to terms with having to continue living while he’s gone. It is a sad book, yes. But it also is a book full of blissful, happy, memories. Ones that she shares with the reader through her journal writing. She makes her brother immortal by continuing to tell his story. His memories help drive my MC to the decision that life is worth living still, even when he’s gone. She writes stories and poems so he will never be forgotten.

Recently, we lost a four-footed member of my family. Every time we talk about him I see my kids heal a bit. We keep his memory alive in the stories we tell, and through them, we recover.

I write books about grief not to make the reader sad, I write them to give readers a safe space to heal. I write these stories so one day my kid’s wish for a way to keep me alive comes true. Even if that machine is never built.

Everyone deserves a way to process the inevitability of life and loss, our teens and kids most of all. I hope through books like TINS, they find a safe outlet to do so.

Meet the author

Cassandra Newbould is the editor and a contributor of the YA intersectional, fat, feminist anthology Every Body Shines. Things I’ll Never Say is her debut contemporary YA novel. As host and creator of the Fat Like Me podcast, Cassandra has discussed the need for more intersectional body diversity in kid lit. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her family. When she’s not writing, you can find her at a poker table reminding the other players to never underestimate the power of a determined girl and her cards.

About Things I’ll Never Say

A beautifully raw coming-of-age story for fans of Becky Albertalli and Julie Murphy, examining what it means to crush on your two best friends at the same time.

Ten years ago, the Scar Squad promised each other nothing would tear them apart. Even when Casey Jones Caruso lost her twin brother Sammy to an overdose, and their foursome became a threesome, the squad picked each other up. But when Casey’s feeling for the remaining members—Francesca and Benjamin—develop into romantic attraction, she worries the truth will dissolve them.

Casey tries to ignore her heart, until Ben kisses her at a summer party, and Frankie kisses another girl. Now Casey must confront all the complicated feelings she’s buried—for her friends and for the brother she’s totally pissed at for dying. Since Sammy’s death, Casey has spilled all the things she can no longer say to him in journals, and now more than ever, she wishes he were here to help her decide whether she should guard her heart or bet it all on love, before someone else decides for her.

ISBN-13: 9781682635964
Publisher: Peachtree Teen
Publication date: 06/06/2023
Age Range: 14 – 17 Years

Filed under: Guest Post