Sad Days, Glad Days: A Story about Depression - Realistic Fiction

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      Sad Days, Glad Days is a children’s picture book with an ample amount of text that describes what everyday life is like for Amanda. Amanda lives with her father, mother, and her cat named Alfred, Lord of the Alley. It appears that Amanda has a functioning family unit; however, her mother suffers from depression, an illness that can be mysterious to a child. On glad days, Amanda’s mother cooks her breakfast, making pancakes into animal figures. However, on sad days, Amanda has cold cereal with milk with she describes as “sad food.” It is a realistic fictional picture book that will help a child who lives with an apparent, or adult, who suffers from depression on a regular basis. Most importantly, the book explains that it is not any fault of the child, but that depression is a sickness that is not seen on the outside of a person, it is like trying to swim in thick syrup (Hamilton, 1995).

      The illustrations showing the days of depression are in a muted color scheme. On happier days, there are splashes of yellow and pink colors in the illustrations. This book is for elementary children ages 5 to 8, and even older children will find valuable knowledge with the information presented. Sad Days, Glad Days is a “simple story to help explain to children something of the nature of depression” (Hamilton, 1995).

      Classroom activities could include having children draw pictures of a person on a sad day, and then a contrasting picture of a person on a glad day. Then, a classroom discussion on depression, what the children learned about it from the book, and if any of the students know of a person who appears to be sad often.

Reader Response:

1.       What does Amanda’s father do to help her understand how to deal with her mothers’ depression?

2.       After helping Alfred, the injured cat, get back to health by offering him cereal every day, what present did Alfred bring to Amanda?

      It was a pleasure to see a book written for children on the subject of depression. Most importantly, children must know that they are not the cause of this hidden illness, and not the solution. Along with other realistic fiction books, this would be an excellent addition to an elementary school’s library as it touches on a subject that was not discussed 30 or more years ago.

Reference

Hamilton, D. (1995). Sad Days, Glad Days: A Story about Depression. Illinois: Albert Whitman & Company.