The Heart And The Bottle

THEME- LOSS

Beautifully illustrated book about a child who was full of wonder and who loved to share her curious mind with her loved one. Then one day, the loved one is gone and she is filled with pain. It doesn’t specifically say the loved one has died; she just finds an empty chair. Therefore this book could be used for more than grief from death, which is helpful as children lose people’s presence in their lives for lots of reasons.

The child decides to lock the pain away in a bottle, to protect herself from the strength of her feelings. As we know, if you shut off your painful feelings it also makes it harder to experience joy - you have to have access to all of your emotions.

The story follows the child into her adulthood and her realisation she needs to unlock her heart. The book is more reliant on visual content than the written word. It will definitely help to open up conversations with children about loss and associated feelings.