Zzzzzzzzzz
Your'e correct that the trope isn't simply "Children's books where somebody dies." But you're not correct that the defining feature is "it's about such books that win awards, are widely assigned in schools, are praised and touted by adults."
The trope is plot and characterization trope. I've bolded the important parts of this (extended) definition:
At the end of the story, this very special best friend is abruptly killed off, usually in a clear-cut case of Diabolus ex Machina. A favorite trick is to have the death happen entirely off-screen. The more horribly poignant the tragedy the better.
All this is generally accompanied by lots of "end of the innocence" angsting from the main character, along the lines of "That was the day my childhood ended..." Really, it's just the author's way of having a child suddenly make the jump to adulthood via a single defining tragedy. "
Whether a book has won an award or not is irrelevant to whether it's an example or not.
edited 22nd May '14 5:07:51 PM by Madrugada
...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.
Dragon Writer
Bold is not always easy to spot in a quoteblock. Maybe we can pare the summary down to:
Zzzzzzzzzz
Ok, But it's not "usually" as a metaphor for coming of age and loss of innocence. That's an integral part of the definition. So is the fact that it's a Slice of Life story. It may be a side story on another type of work, but the hero's best friend happening to die in something like a war story or heroic fantasy story isn't Death by Newbery Medal
edited 22nd May '14 7:05:08 PM by Madrugada
...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.
Ok, got it. The name's misleading then? But some of the examples are still not good.
Zzzzzzzzzz
You can't read a trope name and assume that it's also the definition. You need to read the actual definition. But yes, there are some bad examples that need to be cleared up.
...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.
Is there any particular reason we need a spelling note at the bottom of the description?
Zzzzzzzzzz
The spelling note is there to cut down on the number of misspelled redirects. We shouldn't need to keep a redirect from a misspelling, but in this case, we have one.
...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.
Hi
This thread's in the running for a Newbery.
Friends forevermore
Considering that the current name is both misleading and often misspelled, renaming the trope makes sense.
I had a dog-themed avatar before it was cool.
I would like to go through this page and remove nonexamples — because the trope isn't just about children's books where somebody dies, it's about such books that win awards, are widely assigned in schools, are praised and touted by adults.