A Monster Calls: Using literature in education

I went to NET2013 (Network for Healthcare Education Conference) last week. There were good keynotes and many excellent presentations from colleagues from across the globe. I want to write about one of the sessions by Kate Powis a lecturer and researcher from St Helena Hospice. She told us about a book that she uses in her teaching of practitioners about bereavement in young people. It's called 'A Monster Calls' by Patrick Ness and is about Conor, a boy whose mother is dying of cancer who meets a monster who wants Conor's 'truth'. It is an amazing book with atmospheric drawings which have been highly acclaimed and I loved the feeling of holding the book in my hands. For me, though, the written story was what made the impact. I wept as I came to the final part of the story and could really see how young people may find strength through its reading.

Some of the messages that came to me through its reading (and I promise not to give the story away as I want you to read it too!) were:

- the difficulties that some young people may have with their peer relationships when their home circumstances are so different to those of their friends.

- the beautiful love of a mother for her son expressed in ways that may not be easy to understand until much later.

- the way a young person might be treated as 'different' by their teachers and how this can make a person more vulnerable than they already were.

- the way in which young people might keep their feelings hidden - feelings that need to be discussed so that misinterpretations are avoided.

- the way that anger is expressed and then perceived by others, but that the anger is about something totally different to what it has been directed to.

- the need for all of us to talk to our children about loss, bereavement, death.....

I am sure that if you read it you will find many other things. I will read it again. Here is Patrick Ness talking about the book on the radio.

Kate has invited me to go along to one of her sessions where she uses the book as an educational tool. I look forward to being inspired again.