A translated rough transcript of a dialog between Abba and Noam (3.5 y/o) while leaving a gas-station after refueling :
Noam: Why does the car need fuel?
Abba: Well, just like you and I need to eat and drink, the car needs fuel to function. If we don't eat we don't have power, and it's the same with the car.
Noam: If someone doesn't eat they "become dead", and then the water comes and they break apart, and then the water becomes dirt and everything hardens and they become rocks, and then they become a statue. They are reassembled at the museum.
Abba: Errr... yes... that's right... why don't you explain that to me again? ...
Noam is, obviously, describing the geological process of fossilization (see animation above) as described and illustrated in several of his books. When he said statue he is referring to the mounted museum skeleton as a kind of sculpture.
I think it is a beautiful way for a child to figure out death. It is a completely physical explanation in which death is just the first step. It is the beginning of a magnificent process which ends up in a museum!
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