I can't remember how I came to find out about today's book but I am certainly glad that I did. The book is Cry, Heart, But Never Break by Glenn Ringtved with illustrations by Charlotte Pardi. (It's translated from Dutch to English by Robert Moulthrop.) The premise is a simple one: Teaching children how to handle the grief of a loved one who passes away. (Coincidentally, it might help adults as well.) The illustrations themselves are quite unique and beautiful but when linked with the words are perfect and stunning. The story follows 4 siblings who wait with Death who is there to take their grandmother. It's a poignant depiction of the tension that one feels when sitting at the bedside of someone near and dear to your heart. It's a lifting of the veil so that if a child were to experience death they would see that without it there can be no fervor or joy in life. It's a two-sided coin. It's an extremely touching story and I think it is a really lovely way to introduce a difficult topic to children (you can't shield them from it forever and you really shouldn't try). 10/10 and highly recommend to all ages.

The great appeal of this book begins with its title, which encapsulates all that is resilient about how we humans cope with the saddest of life's natural cycles: death.

Written for children, the language and story is simple, but the emotions it arouses are not. Four years after my Dad died at the ripe old age of nearly 84, I felt my heart cry again at the interaction between gentle Death and the 4 young children grieving the imminent loss of their beloved grandmother.

Packed with beautiful illustrations, inspirational and touching, Cry, Heart, But Never Break will give adults and children alike an increased acceptance that we are born into life and we must, therefore, die ... but in the time between we can feel joy as well as grief, sorrow as well as delight.

A marvellous, touching story.