Friday, 6 September 2019

ReadItDaddy's Book of the Week - Week Ending 6th September 2019: "Mum's Jumper" by Jayde Perkin (Book Island)

Oof, this week's first Book of the Week is another emotional whump in the guts, but a beautifully simple and extremely sensitively handled story about loss and grief.

"Mum's Jumper" by Jayde Perkin takes up the story of a young girl whose mum goes into hospital, but sadly never returns.

As the story unfolds, using very simple language but strikingly effective illustrations, Jayde helps to describe what children feel like when they lose someone close to them.

The feeling doesn't go away, it follows them around like a cloud, and sometimes they feel like they want to scream, cry, get angry, or just curl up into a ball - all at the same time.

Sometimes though, memories are like a jumper that you can cuddle and wear. In the story, the little girl wears her Mum’s jumper as a way to keep her close, bringing back memories both happy and sad. 

Ultimately, despite the subject matter, this is a book absolutely filled to the brim with a heartfelt and hopeful message that there is a life after loss, and it's not something that we ever have to cope with alone - there are always others to help and listen, and offer a shoulder to cry on too. 


Sum this book up in a sentence: A simple but hugely effective book about loss and grief from a child's perspective, beautifully presented and illustrated.

"Mum's Jumper" by Jayde Perkin is out now, published by Book Island (kindly supplied for review).