I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Why is Mommy Crying is a beautiful and easy to understand young children's book to help parents explain to their child/children about the loss of an unborn baby.
This book is easy for little ones to grasp the concept of the loss of an unborn sibling or family member. It is a delicate and well worded story.
This book would be a very beneficial book to have within a nursery or school for families to borrow and share to help support the child and the parent.

This is a book that should be recommend and praised for it's subject matter. To include children and register that this is also a sad and confusing time for them would no doubt aid the healing process and unite the family in their time of grief. The only limitation to this book would be the religious aspect as it will not suit all families.

Why is Mommy Crying? is a wonderfully illustrated and written resource for kids and families that explains pregnancy loss in an easy-to-understand way. It is written in such a way that I believe young children can grasp the concept. The book also deals with the emotions that the child and parents have in experiencing the loss. It also has a list of additional resources in the back of the book that can be helpful as well. I highly recommend this book to those families that have went through pregnancy loss,. It would also be a good resource for those working with children and those in the counseling field. Thank you to NetGalley and the Author for the opportunity to read this book. (This review is on Amazon and GoodReads.)

A read that is important to share, especially with young children. I can imagine it would be extremely difficult for parents going through miscarriage to read this, but perhaps grieve together as a family.

As a fellow loss mom, it was an honor to read this book. I will definitely purchase a copy for myself for future children to read one day. Always remembering my girl, lost at 20 weeks. The illustrations in this book were really beautiful. I would have liked to seen the text fleshed out a bit more.

A difficult, sad subject is handled deftly with sweet, cozy illustrations and sensitive text. I appreciate that the author asks the questions from Max's point of view; these are the questions a worried child would ask. The illustrations are comforting and aid in this gentle, loving explanation of what happens when a family loses a baby to miscarriage. The text does mention God, but in a tactful way that is not overpowering and does not preclude the reading enjoyment of children and families who are not religious. A warm and safe ending will help young readers feel comfortable and secure. This is an excellent choice for anyone wanting to broach this sensitive topic with a young family member.

I read the full of this book. First, I must say I am very impress with the cover and every art works in this book. I love the story too. Little baby always wanted to stay inside the bed with mom and dad. Especially when they scare of something or having nightmare. When he go and find his momma he saw her on the chair looking away sadly, so he asked her. Mother told him using a nice words to explain the young children about child loss. This is the nice book for children and mom. Yes, children came from heaven and they were the gift of god. So, they can took that back. But mom was always sad because this happening. In other words, baby who go back to heaven at god place will safe they thought and the baby will never know how parents feel sad for them. I had the experience on mommy's crying over losing my elder brother and sister. She always kept punish herself and sad sometime when I asked her but she didn't tell me anything. I figured it out myself when I was adult. Anyway this book was the nice work.

My first thought when I saw this book was that it was very important and a necessary addition to children's libraries everywhere. After reading I still think it is wonderful that there is a book available for parents to read to their kids if the parents experience the loss of a pregnancy.

I firmly believe that information is power which is why I chose to read and review this children's book.

When Max wakes up in the middle of the night, he grabs his stuffed animal (named Mink) and decides to go to his parents' bedroom. On his way there, he sees his mother in a different room and she is crying.

Curious and worried, Max asks his mother of she has an "owwie" and offers to get her a Band-Aid. His mother says: "No son, I don't need a Band-Aid. It's not that kind of owwie." Max hops up on his Mom's lap and asks how she had gotten an owwie.

The mother's response is where this book will lose many of its potential readership. I am a Canadian and as such, we are very proud of our multicultural environment. Maybe I am just oversensitive to books that exclude large segments of the population.

Once religious beliefs are introduced into a children's book, any potential reader whose beliefs are different from those expressed in the book, will be turned off and will not be interested in purchasing that book. I believe this is the case with WHY IS MOMMY CRYING? However, the Christian segment of the population may be even more interested in this book because it talks about God, so maybe this will balance out.

Although this book does not identify with any specific sect, it is clearly intended for Christian households. In my opinion, this is a shame. I believe that a message of love and understanding could easily have been incorporated without mentioning God.

The mother tells Max that "Sometimes a baby returns to be with God." She further explains that; "God will take care of our baby." 

The illustrations are fabulous and I like the fact that the mother and father seem to be an interracial couple. The mother is white and the father has brown skin. It is important to have books that reflect the diversity in today's world. So, kudos for that.

However, because the author is a doctor and therefore (in my mind) a person of science, I was not expecting this book to contain references to God. I expected a more scientific, but still age appropriate, explanation as to why Max's mother was sad and why the pregnancy ended. I was very disappointed that this was not the case. 

The author does include a list of "Additional Resources" at the end of the book which offer organization names and websites where more information about grief and grieving can be found.

I rate this book as 3.5 out of 5 Stars which I am rounding up to 4 OUT OF 5 STARS ⭐⭐⭐⭐

*** Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book. ***

I've long been seeking a non-denominational picture book to help young children deal with their mother's miscarriage, and now, I've found it. Why is Mommy Crying? is a loving and sensitive story told in luminous prose and beautiful illustrations. The young protagonist, Max, begins to understand what has made his mother sad. This book offers a gentle, sensitive springboard to discuss grief and recovery with children. l have no doubt it will comfort any child whose family has experienced such a loss.

Dr. Baill is an obstetrician-gynecologist and medical school professor who has over twenty years of experience helping families through the trauma of miscarriage, an event that occurs in one-third of all pregnancies. However, until now there have been few resources dedicated to young children's processing of and recovery from such an event. This inclusive story, from a young boy’s point of view, will comfort not only children but all family members, helping them all toward healing and recovery after miscarriage.
Why is Mommy Crying? is a great addition to any library, public or personal.

A sweet story to help a child understand pregnancy loss with a religious explanation. The explanation by the mother was simple for a child to understand, and the illustrations we cute. I enjoyed the airplane metaphor, though it might be confusing for some children as it later uses stars.

I wish there was more of a story rather than a long conversation back and forth. It felt a bit clunky with all the dialogue, particularly when the child is talking to his stuffed animal.

Really appreciated the additional resources at the back of the book. While it could be better, it's still a great way to introduce the topic for those of a certain religion.

This provided a lovely and simple explanation for children when their parents suffer a pregnancy loss. I had missed the tag indicating this is religious/spiritual, so the invocation of God took me by surprise, but with proper context and awareness, that is not a detriment to the book. The illustrations were very beautiful and I very much liked the juxtaposition of stark white for serious moments.

I'm sure there is more need for books on this topic. I don't know if I would use this book if I were in this scenario, but I can see how it would definitely be a good resource for some. The book does mention God, which is something to know about it. I also wish it would have mentioned that the sadness doesn't just leave in the morning. I also think it would be nice to mention the dad's sadness. This book could be a good jumping off point for discussions with little ones.

This book covers pregnancy loss really delicately.

The book was well written and it was easy to understand.

I liked the natural and simple way that the story was told to explain to younger ones why their mummies and daddies might be sad

It is 4 stars from me for this one.

This is a very heartfelt story that explains miscarriage to a child in an extremely touching and sensitive manner. I think this would be appropriate for any family going through this so the child could understand what is going on and that everything will be ok. Great job!

A very hard topic to have with children. This book is beautifully written to help children understand topics that might be otherwise hard to explain to them.

A sensitive take on a painful subject, accompanied by beautiful illustrations. Although simple, I think it's a helpful guide for children.

This is a very readable book appropriate for children on a topic that is incredibly important to talk about both in society in general and with your kids. That said, it will likely only be appropriate for families with strong religious backgrounds or with mothers who experienced little pain or trauma from their miscarriage. I'm glad this book was written and even though it wouldn't have been the right book for my family when we experienced this, it hopefully can help other families heal.

It’s a sweet story about pregnancy loss that explains it in a language little kids can understand and in ways they would think. There is mention of God and how babies who aren’t born are sent back to Him, so I don’t think it’s a book that will appeal to every family necessarily. Especially those who are not religious. The illustrations are okay but not the best I’ve seen. Would recommend to a religious/God believing family who’ve gone through pregnancy loss and want to find a gentle way of explaining it to their child.

This was a very heart felt story on a very sad reality. I was impressed that the author reassured the child that God would be taken care of the baby. The illustrations were beautiful and helped keep you engaged in this story. I will probably be buying this for my Kids Ministry at church for the grief section.
Thank you Netgalley!

This is a good book for families going thorough the lost of a baby and is careful of the emotions and feelings that families (especially moms) go through in such a painful time.