Death is a difficult subject for anyone to understand, young or old. Perhaps we only understand it as we experience it more. That makes it particularly difficult for concrete-thinking children, especially young ones who are still working out object permanence. I liked how in this book, the mother allowed the children to touch their father's ashes and eventually spread them in different ways. I liked how during the walk in the woods, she pointed out the decaying plants and trees, how they returned to the earth. This book handled such a difficult concept gently and factually. However, I did not care for the illustrations. The watercolors were gentle and the pages saturated with color, which I liked. The faces were distorted, however, with the eyes very low set on the faces and the nose line drawn almost to the hairline. The faces felt almost Picasso-esque and disturbing.

I received this book as an eARC for free from the author, the publishers, and NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review.