After the Fall (How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again) Hardcover – Picture Book, October 3, 2017

Absolutely my new favorite book!

This book is a must have.

It is a very comical and heartwarming take on what happens to Humpty dumpty after he falls from the wall.

Hands down, tihs is my favorite children’s picture book of the year! We checked it out of the library but as soon as we closed it, I ordered it from Amazon!Reading other reviews of this book was interesting. We did not see it quite the same way as many. I asked my daughter to tell me in one sentence what the book was about when we finished. She is eight, and her summary was, “It is about overcoming fear so you can do great things.” Exactly, how I saw this book too. It is a subtle point but I do not think it is about overcoming failure as much as it is overcoming fear. It is not a failure to have an accident. Fear of falling again is what held Humpty back after the accident. There is a lovely, poignant picture of Humpty sleeping on the floor in the foreground. In the background we see his raised bed with a desk underneath. On the wall around his bed are taped pictures of birds. The words are moving. “Fortunately, all the king’s men managed to put me back together. Well, most of me. There were some parts that couldn’t be healed with bandages and glue.” That is all it says. I asked my daughter to explain to me what that meant and what clues she saw in the picture that helped her understand those words. We had a great discussion.The book goes onto to show Humpty overcoming his fear and becoming what he was always destined to be. Great, encouraging story that we both loved. We were going on and on about it so much that my husband read it next and loved it too!The illustrations are also superb and really add poignancy to the words. My favorite illustration though was laugh-out-loud funny. We see Humpty in the grocery store at the cereal aisle. He is holding a sad cereal called BO Rings (yuck) and looking sadly up at the shelves of cereal. All the great looking and sounding cereals are on the top 2 shelves. The only cereals reachable without a ladder are pretty horrible looking and sounding. The boxes are grayish, green without a lot of color and sport names like Sad Clown, Cardboard, Twigs & Berries, Leaves, Grown-Up Food, Fiber Flakes, Bland, Flax, Bag-o-Cereal, Chia...you get the idea! The top shelf holds cereals like Fruit Hoops, Sugar Bunny, Rainbow Bites, Tiger Crunch, Just Marshmellow, Free Toy, Bowl-o-Cookies, Sugar Elf, Pirate Crunch...so funny! It made a nice comic relief.We are probably in the minority but we did not love The Adventures of Beekle:The Unimaginary Friend but with this book Dan Santat knocks it out of the park!

This was actually a replacement purchase. I am writing this review only because I saw some really ridiculous and horrible reviews that could actually hinder future lovers of this book from buying it.This book is 1- NOT ABOUT DEATH. And even if it was, it’s part of life and it sad so many people are so uncomfortable they refuse to let their children have opportunities to learn about it- too bad for them. 2- this book is about overcoming fear and learning to find a way cope with anxiety in order to be able to enjoy life after a trauma.Spoiler alert for the folks who don’t want a more in-depth review (I personally would like a play by play to help with online purchasing, specifically for children’s books during these unfortunate times where I can’t shop in store and choose books I like for my child in person!).A unique but totally sensical approach to the aftermath of Humpty’s fall! After Humpty experiences his trauma during his most favorite activity in life, he becomes withdrawn and depressed and unsure how to enjoy life. After time passes he has the desire to try his activity again but is extremely afraid and unsure how to proceed. After coming up with an idea for an alternate activity idea, Humpty ends up investing a lot of time and effort on a project that will be part of his activity. An unforeseen hiccup arises and he’s ultimately forced to choose: face his trauma or give up again. Despite his incredible amount of fear he musters up the courage to face his fears head on. He is rewarded with happiness and elation after his success and in an surprising but extremely lovely, practical, and now extremely logical turn of events, Humpty experiences his growth and transition and is taken to new heights in the adventures his life may bring him.For the people who really didn’t perceive it this way, and grossly misunderstood (IMO) the message of this book and the literal events- hopefully you can acquire better reading comprehension and use it to fulfill your life with beautiful books for you and your loved ones.My son loves this book. I love this book. I highly recommend it for the story alone; the pictures are quite beautiful as well and really evoke the range of emotions expressed.Happy reading!

So, after falling in love with this book, I went down to the 1-star reviews trying to work out how people could not like it and it turns out most of them apparently did not understand the ending at all. (Spoiler: No he DOES NOT DIE. That's NOT what happened. You have to read all the words.)That said, I could see *some* bases to a few of their points:GROWS:- The lettering *is* in fact on the small side. It works well with the aesthetic, but could be harder to read for those with poor vision.- This book is not for most toddlers... but then it clearly isn't intended for them.- The ending might be a little hard to follow at first glance if you don't, you know, READ ALL THE WORDS.GLOWS:- Wonderful message, with a really good build toward the payoff. Seriously, I still chocke up reading it aloud.- Excellent characterization of Humpty (the only real character in the book).- The artwork is wonderful. People complain tht it's "drab." Well... PARTS are. They're supposed to be. Others are not. That's for reasons; the colors establish the mood of the story at that part. (If you don't like it, I guess you hated The Wizard of Oz for being in black and white for the first 20 minutes.)- Read this damn book. Unless you hated The Wizard of Oz for being in black and white for the first 20 minutes.