GUELPH, ON – Canadian children’s author Robert Munsch announced this week that he he has chosen a medically assisted death because of his dementia diagnosis, as well as writing an updated “mega bummer” ending to his classic book Love You Forever.
The beloved writer says he applied for MAID shortly after the diagnosis, and was approved, at which point he set about taking the book’s already heartbreaking ending and “cranking the dial up to 11”.
The book’s original ending, where the young protagonist grows into an adult and rocks his elderly mother to sleep, thus forcing school-age children to confront the mortality of their own parents, has been famously seared into the brains of Canadians since its release in 1986.
“I’d always intended for Love You Forever to be both a touching homage to childhood and also a heart-stopping shock to the system of grade school children who had never considered their parents’ mortality,” reports Munsch.
With the addition of Munsch’s new closing pages, children age 5-8 will now follow the book’s story to its furthest logical conclusion, where the middle-aged character must confront his octogenarian mother’s terminal diagnosis before navigating the MAID program bureaucracy to fulfil her wishes to die with dignity.
“Available at a Scholastic Book Fair near you, kids,” Munsch added.
Across the nation, parents are reacting to the release of Munsch’s Love You Forever: Special Edition.
“I tried reading the regular version to my 5-year-old and could barely get through it,” recalls Marlee Jenkins of Whistler, B.C. “Then I tried this new version, and me and my son both just stared out the window in silence for the next hour.”
“Last time I checked, Goodnight Moon didn’t make me need to update my living will and advance directives,” reported Janosz Feldman of Winnipeg.
“This book makes me wish I’d gone with my original plan of not teaching my kid to read,” reports Janet Smythe of Quebec City.
Munsch has announced that his next updated book will depict the Paper Bag Princess’s inability to afford a mortgage after her castle is burned down.
