Books like Memoirs of a Tortoise
By Devin Scillian
For families who've had to explain loss to a child, this is a gentle way to open that door. Quiet, tender, unhurried, touched with sadness but never heavy.
A gentle picture of what heaven holds for dogs — endless fields to run in, fluffy clouds for sleeping, and biscuits no dog can resist.
An elderly Plains Indian woman dies and journeys into the afterlife her people believe in, while her family carries out the customs of preparing her body and saying goodbye.
A fox and his dog share an inseparable life together until the dog dies, sending the fox into grief so deep he tears apart the garden they once tended, until an unexpected pumpkin vine slowly draws him back into the world.
A gentle picture book imagines Cat Heaven, where beloved cats run through fields of sweet grass, play with favorite toys, and are cared for by angels who rub their noses and ears.
A quiet meditation on the everyday moments — love and loss, hope and joy, wonder and mystery — that thread through every single life, shown through glowing art and spare text.
A little dog named Daisy loves her red ball more than anything — until another dog at the park accidentally pops it, leaving her heartbroken, in a wordless story told entirely through watercolor illustrations.
A discarded robot with a broken heart gives shelter to an exhausted bluebird in the empty space where his heart used to be, and carries her south with the last of his failing strength.
A four-year-old boy loves visiting his grandmother and great-grandmother, Nana Downstairs and Nana Upstairs, until one day his mother tells him Nana Upstairs won't be there anymore.
A wolf who has always lived alone atop a hill grows uneasy when a little wolf quietly settles beside him and won't leave — and slowly, warily, learns to let him stay.
A little boy returns to the lake with his older brother for the first summer without their father, working up the courage to dive from the tall rock they used to jump from together.
A stuffed toy rabbit longs to become Real through the love of the boy who owns him, even as he grows shabbier and worn — until the fear of being thrown away threatens everything.
A boy named Eli grows up on his grandparents' farm, learning to love the barn, the fields, and the river that surround him — then shares those same places with his baby sister, Sylvie.
