I am a counsellor and would strongly recommend this book to help people get in touch with their grief. A moving combination of sincerity and simplicity, it acknowledges that sadness is not always avoidable or reasonable and perfects the art of making complicated feelings plain. They combine perfectly recognisable portraits of Rosen with expressionism, proving that Blake’s seemingly spontaneous style is born out of practice and precision. Quentin was the inaugural Children's Laureate (1999-2001), an experience he recorded in his book Laureate's Progress.

The book frequently uses a disconnection between text and image to communicate the complex feelings of grief.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. And Quentin Blake says that the picture of Michael "being sad but trying to look happy" is the most difficult drawing he's ever done.

Michael Rosen's Sad Book chronicles Michael's grief at the death of his son Eddie from meningitis at the age of 19. The book chronicles Rosen's grief over the loss of his son Eddie, who died of meningococcal septicaemia aged 18.

He was the Children’s Laureate from 2007-2009 and has published over 200 books for children and adults, including the recent bestseller Many Different Kinds of Love and On The Move. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. His first degree in English Literature and Language was from Wadham College, Oxford and he went on to study for an MA at the University of Reading and a PhD at the former University of North London, now London Metropolitan. He has won many major prizes for illustration, including the Kate Greenaway Medal (1980) and the Red House Children's Book Award (1981) for Mister Magnolia.