Review by Booklist Review
A young girl narrates her story about the aftermath of losing a beloved parent, taking readers through her various stages of grief. The child not only deals with sadness but also struggles with feelings of emptiness: "It didn't feel real. Nobody pinched me. But if they did, I'm sure I wouldn't have felt it." She also experiences jealousy and resentment because other children still have their mothers. As life goes on, she quietly suffers while she and her father do their best to deal with their heartbreaking loss. The illustrations show that the girl loves red clothing, and when she comes across her mother's favorite red sweater and begins wearing it daily, her depression, sleeplessness, and anger gradually lessen. Time and the girl's warm bond with her father help ease her sadness. Though she keeps the sweater, eventually she doesn't need to wear it every day. Softly colored illustrations, with objects outlined in black, deftly convey the story in this British import that will be beneficial to children dealing with the loss of a loved one.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In the opening image of this picture book, a mother dressed in a patient gown sits on the edge of a hospital bed, hugging her young daughter. Both have gentle smiles; outside, daffodils--Mom's favorite flower--are in bloom. But Mom isn't coming home; there's a funeral, and an outpouring of cards and flowers and sandwiches. While the grieving girl is surrounded by supportive people, she is "angry that my friends had moms who picked them up from school." When she discovers her mother's favorite red sweater among her mom's belongings, she wears it constantly until, with help from her father, she learns that like the sweater, the grief she feels "may stay the same size. But my world will grow bigger around it." Perkin's firmly inked drawings, punctuated by bright colors, offer a visual consistency that serves as an anchor amid the emotional turmoil, authenticating the story's trajectory from sadness to acceptance to loving remembrance. Ages 4--8. (Apr.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A girl struggles to understand her grief in this British import and picture-book debut for artist Perkin. After a visit to her mother in the hospital comes a life-changing call the next morning: "She's gone." There's a funeral and many condolences. The girl finds herself unable to concentrate and feels detached from the world, her father telling her that it is grief she is experiencing. Perkin writes matter-of-factly about struggling with the loss of a parent. There's no condescension to child readers; she respects their ability to understand, telling the story with a refreshing candor from the girl's point of view: "Everyone would say, 'I'm so sorry.' But it wasn't their fault," the girl muses. Finding one of her mother's sweaters, which retains her mother's scent, the girl wears it often. Her sensitive father helps her comprehend the enormity of her feelings with the use of an apt and poignant simile, explaining that her grief is like her mother's sweater: It stays the same, but she will "eventually grow into it." There is a fitting plaintiveness to Perkin's stylized figures--she draws eyes simply with everyone appearing as if they are looking down--but smiles grow as times passes and the girl and her father come to understand their loss. The two are white; the family's grieving friends include people of color and multiracial families. A deeply felt examination of grief. (Picture book. 4-10) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
