Caitlin Doughty is my favorite mortician. Yes, I have a favorite mortician, doesn’t everyone? No? Lame. Y’all, everyone dies and everyone is super curious about what happens to your body and the process of disposing of your corpse. I’ve actually already written about my love for Caitlin and her YouTube channel, Ask A Mortician. But this post is not about her amazing YouTube channel. This post is about her new book that was just released, Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? Big Questions From Tiny Mortals About Death.
Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?
This book features questions asked by kids about death issues. I have read all of Caitlin’s books. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes is one of my all-time favorite books. Caitlin’s writing style is a mixture of the dry gripping reality of death with a healthy dose of self-deprecating humor. Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs is no different.
This easy to read and super enjoyable book is written in a way that answers children’s questions around death in a straight forward but humorous way that adults will enjoy reading. Let’s be clear, this book is answering children’s questions, but it’s not really a children’s book. Unless your kid is super into death-related topics like I was as a child. In which case, this is a great book for them.
I read this book at the beach, as one does, and I was so engrossed in it I blew through it in a day. I couldn’t put it down. Answering questions about Viking funerals, corpse’s pooping, and so much more, I was hooked in from the very first question. Which was, btw, will my cat eat my eyeballs (answer: maybe!). The best part about this book is that all the questions were asked by children. Which gives us parents an idea of what our kids are really wondering and thinking about regarding death.
Women in The Death Industry
I wish Caitlin and YouTube had been around when I was in school and majoring in Thanatology. I feel like I would have stayed the course and went into the death industry as I wanted too if I had seen another woman my age doing it as well. My thanatology courses were full of dudes looking to inherit their Dad’s funeral homes. But, while my dreams of helping families go through the grieving process may not have come to fruition, the fact that people like Caitlin are out there breaking the boundaries and stigmas around the death industry makes my morbid little heart so warm and happy.
If you’re looking for a factual, funny, and historically interesting book all about death, this is the book for you.
