The past two years have been life defining for so many of us in so many differing ways and after loosing both of my wonderful Nanas within a 6 month period during the Covid pandemic I naturally (for me) picked up a book to help my children navigate what was, of course, their loss too.
I think as parents we obviously and rightly feel the overwhelming need to protect our children from the realities of life, and yet so many children experience the loss of a grandparent (or in my children's case great-grandparents) at a very young age. Opportunities to enable children to talk about and have a sense of validation around the multitude of feelings that the death of a loved one can bring then is so important and in this, for me, books can certainly play their part.
My Nanas Garden is beautiful book from Dawn Casey and Jessica Courtney-Tickle that does just that. It gently explores the death of a beloved grandparent through the backdrop of the changing seasons and with it the life cycle of Nana's beautifully abundent garden and the special times they spend in it.
With it's soft, engaging illustrations and gentle, comforting rhyme - this book is a powerful tool which can enable adults to help children to understand their own sense of loss and grief, and just as importantly the strength then can find in memory, shared experiences and the act of remembering.
This is a book which values relationship, family, nature and above all love. I can't recommend it enough xx
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