Is it ok to tell my daughter that her grandparents are dead?

My daughters paternal grandparents do not even acknowledge that my daughter exists. Her father has a son from another relationship that they love dearly and shower him with gifts and vacations to Disney World once a year. But when it comes to my daughter they have never sent her a birthcard card or even called to see how she is doing. She is getting old enough now to understand and I do not want her to be hurt by their rejection. She does not get to see her father often, but he is also very hurt by their attitude toward her. She is so sweet, pretty and smart, people love her anywhere we go. Any advise on how to handle this??

Thank all of you so much for the advice!
I feel silly now even considering telling her this. I love her so much and just wanted to protect her from being hurt.

Don't lie to the child. When she finds out you lied, and she will eventually find out, it can only cause a divide in your relationship with her. While it is hard, a parental relationship takes precedence over grandparents and is substantially more important. You don't want to say or do anything to take that away. Don't burden her by harping on it either. If she asks tell her ,honestly, you don't understand either. Don't give her the gory details, they truly aren't important and are more likely than not more than a young child can bear. One day she will come to understand the truth, in her own time and maturity, and she will at least be able to say that while they weren't there, you always were.

I wouldn't lie to her about it. Lies need more lies to keep them going and then, they end up collapsing under the weight of all of the lies.

Does she know about her brother? Does she know him? Wouldn't he tell her that the grandparents are still alive?

If you lie to her, when she finds out the truth, she will feel like there's something secret or shameful in it that she has to hide or pretend away. There is nothing shameful in this for her. It's just grownups being stupid (and fallible and human) and making sad mistakes.

Just tell her the truth. Do you have any idea why they do this? Do they not approve of you or his relationship with you? Let her know what you know, while still being understanding of their journey & hangups that lead to their doing such a sad thing, shutting such a wonderful girl out of their lives. It is sad for them, isn't it? They are missing out on so much with her.

Hope, along with her, that one day they will figure it all out, the adults will work out all of their differences, and they will get the pleasure of knowing her, too.

I just wouldn't acknowledge them at all, if she asks about them just say you don't know much about them and leave it at that. You make a big deal of it and so will she. My father was never around and his parents weren't either. My mother always told me they were nice people and if I ever wanted to meet them just to let her know. I never cared to. But when I was 25 my father wanted to meet me because he was dieing. I got to meet my Grandma. She was great! I adore her and still keep in touch with her. Unfortunately my Grandpa had already passed away. But I got to find out a lot about him and my dad. It was cool.
We want to protect our children no matter what, but never close the door of communication. Lies will only leave her feeling rejected twice. Once by them and then by you.