THE TENTH GOOD THING ABOUT BARNEY
By Judith Viorst
Illustrated by Erik Blegvad
Aladdin Paperbacks, 1971
Category: Picture book
I read this book to my kids tonight because our Nana (my grandmother, their great-grandmother) died on Tuesday, and they are sad and intensely curious at the same time. Where is Nana? Is she in her body? Will we ever see her again? Does she miss us? Is she sad? I answered them as best I could, and then I read to them.
THE TENTH GOOD THING ABOUT BARNEY is the story of a boy grieving the death of his cat, Barney. The boy’s mother encourages him to share ten good things about Barney at the funeral, but the boy can only think of nine. As he struggles to understand what has happened to Barney, and to think of a tenth good thing about him, the boy learns to accept his loss. It is a lovely, lovely book. Lovely. And we all felt a little better for having read it.
Later, the kids and I came up with our own list. Here are ten good things about our Nana:
1. She was a very good great-grandmother.
2. She loved clowns.
3. She was open-minded.
4. She wrote poetry.
5. She was a voracious reader (especially mysteries).
6. She was very good at puzzles (especially crosswords).
7. She was generous (especially with spare change).
8. She kept pictures of her family all over the place.
9. She liked to hold babies.
10. She loved us.
We loved her, too.