Such a beautiful book!

As soon as I began I knew I recognised the art style, and after some quick searching I realised I had also read another of Sanna’s books: Me and my Fear.
I have yet again fallen deeply in love with the art style. I have a great soft spot for colourful, soft, and geometric illustrations. If I could draw I would hope my style was similar to this.

The story itself is beautifully written to be both emotive and simplistic. It doesn’t over explain the situation, and yet it is clear what is happening, even to a child. The voice is that of the child narrator and sounds perfect. You can hear the naive optimism of the character, something which would definitely resonate with the imaginations of child readers.

And then additionally, the illustrations themselves add so much more to the story! There is a particular part where the narrator explains that her mother is never afraid. It shows their mother cuddling them, eyes bright and comforting. The next page shows them asleep. Now their mother sheds tears that they cannot see. This is a very simple yet poignant image that even children can understand and really adds to the empathy needed for children to discuss the story.

A beautiful little book about differences, having anxiety and making friends.

The book is illustrated beautifully in an easy to understand way for children to spot the clues to what the book means, and the writing perfectly leads to ask children questions about the characters and what is happening.

A wonderful book to use when talking about fear and emotions in school.

A beautiful, simple, emotional and artistic book to help children understand loss and grief.

The story uses images of forest animals to explain love and remembering friends who are no longer with us, a simple way to make the story age appropriate and a little more detached from reality.

This book is a wonderfully fun story of different cultures, and how love can help people bond and realise that they have a lot more in common then they may have thought at first.

It would be a wonderful story to help children bond in class, to share their own cultural experiences of home, and start discussions about their families.

A perfect way to help children understand where refugees and migrants come from and why they might need our help and care.

The book balances the heavy topic with ways to help and understand such as looking after new children in school, raising money or helping with charity events.

It also helps children to put themselves in the shoes of people who might be looking for a better life or escaping from a dangerous place.

A short picture book full of emotion and perfect for curious, creative minds to learn empathy and reasoning.

This is exactly the kind of wholesome short and engaging picture book for children to interact with or ask questions about during a spare 10 minutes, at the end of the day, or even as a simple starter points for other creative tasks.

The illustrations are so simple, yet hold so much!

An amazing book!!!

I never thought a picture book could bring me close to tears but honestly this is heartwarming and soul shattering.

Based on a true story, it has a little section about the real Stubby at the back of the book.

The art is wonderful, detailed for adults and gripping for children.

The writing is a perfect balance between honest to war-time and easy for children to understand.

A wonderfully illustrated and written story of two girls and their friendship after a big argument.

The book does an amazing job at expressing their emotions and explaining feelings to children. The dual narrative works well to explain how the other person feels in an argument too.