Mr. Reaper

Gr 2–4—"People all know their birthdays, the day they were born. But the day they will die is something no person knows, the one who decides the day is me. The Reaper." The Grim Reaper states at the outset that he can take any form he wishes-flower, grass, tree, etc. He proceeds to do so throughout this disturbing book. It's hard to see an upside to having children believe that death is lurking in the daisies. He informs readers that the piglet lying by his side is in pain and will be dying in a few days. A hungry wolf appears and is ready to devour him when he realizes the piglet is ill. He takes him home to nurse him back to health prior to eating him. The Reaper says, "Ah yes, that wolf too will be dying in a few days. Why, it's just a cunning, disliked wolf. It can't be helped. Ho ho ho!" Predictably, the wolf becomes more invested in healing the pig than in devouring him, to the end that he finally sacrifices his own life in pursuit of a flower with curative powers. Although the wolf is pictured stiff and dead and the text states that the piglet died, the Reaper suggests an alternative ending where the two are dancing, "butts wiggling," in a meadow. The cartoon illustrations are at odds with the morbid theme. The idea that there is a creepy "Mr. Reaper" out there deciding what lives and dies is not something that children struggling with the concept of death are likely to find consoling.—Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ