Mum's jumper by Jayde Perkin

Book Island, 2019. ISBN: 9781911496137.
(Age: 4+) Recommended. Themes: Grief, Loss, Death. Loss and death are never too far from many children's lives and so a book helping children accept the death of a loved one will have a place in a classroom or home, where quiet time reading a book together can help children understand, in a small way, what has occurred.
In this the young girl visits Mum in hospital, and later when her Mother dies, the routine of the death process is shown. People come and go, expressing sorrow, crying, saying a range of things which sound like platitudes, they offer support, flowers are given, but the girl finds it hard. She cannot concentrate at school, she feels like a large black cloud is hanging overhead, and despite all her friends around her she feels angry and alone.
When she and Dad go through Mum's things she finds a jumper, a favourite and puts it on. She wears it for a long time, and when Dad washes it, he tells her that grief is like that jumper, she will grow into it, the jumper will get smaller.
And it does, the girl eventually packing the jumper into the drawer. She knows it is there, but no longer needs to wear it everyday.
In wonderfully evocative illustrations, the story of acceptance unfolds. The book was written with the support of the Let's Talk about Loss, and the Cruse Bereavement Care Centre in Bristol and more information can be found at these sites.
Fran Knight