Cry, Heart, But Never Break

Title: Cry, Heart, But Never Break

Author: Glenn Ringtved

Illustrator: Charlotte Pardi

Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books

Publication Year: 2016

Professional Source: The New York Times

Genre (and subcategory, if appropriate): Contemporary Tales (diverse setting)

Audience: Children

Awards: None

Critical Response:

Cry, Heart, But Never Break is a contemporary tale for children about the difficulty that can come with the death of a family member. In the story, Death is personified as a gentle character that explains to four children why he must come to take their grandmother as her life comes to a close. The narration of the story is simple and easy to understand, but its simplicity makes the story all the more powerful. As Death gently explains to the children in the story why dying is necessary, he is indirectly explaining the same thing to the readers, children or otherwise. The story handles the topic of death incredibly well, even going to far to make it clear that Death is not a threatening enemy in this book. In fact, Death is described as having a “sweet voice” and a heart “as red as the most beautiful sunset [that] beats with a great love of life.”(9)

The book aims to be didactic and teach children how that it is okay to feel grief, but it is also an enjoyable tale. It is a very bittersweet experience, but one that allows the audience closure in the end. The art style is also pleasing to the eye. The rough sketches and pale watercolor match the somber tone of the story. According to Molly Bang “the larger an object is in a picture, the stronger it feels.” (72) This story is about Death, both as a concept and as a character. As a result, Death is very big compared to the children. Despite the fact that he takes up a lot of the pages that he is featured in, Death is not a scary figure. His size simply emphasizes the importance of his role in this story. There is a highly symmetrical relationship between the pictures and the words of this story, and children and parents alike will enjoy picking out the details of the pictures as they are described by the words.

Although this is a Danish book, the story contains a sort of implied universality. We all as human beings will be exposed to death at some point in our lives. No matter what age, race, or gender the reader is, anyone reading this story can relate to it because death applies to us all. It is a timeless story that is perfect for contemporary and future audiences. Also, unlike many books about death, this story contains no hints of religious subtext. When the grandmother dies, there is no mention of angels or Heaven. This allows anyone with any belief to enjoy the story without that sort of distraction.