Farewell, Grandpa Elephant: What Happens When a Loved One Dies
By (Author) Isabel Abedi
Illustrated by Miriam Cordes
Skyhorse Publishing
Sky Pony Press
15th May 2012
United States
Children
Fiction
Childrens / Teenage personal and social topics: Death and grief
833.92
Hardback
28
Width 216mm, Height 279mm, Spine 226mm
794g
Grandpa Elephant knows that it is his time to go to the elephant graveyard, and so he begins his farewell to his grandchildren. The young elephants are confused, but they soon realize that although there is sadness, the mystery of death holds countless possibilities. Maybe Grandpa Elephant will go to heaven and walk on clouds, or maybe he will come back to earth in a new form. Even he does not know. Though the little elephants will never see Grandpa Elephant again, they learn that he will live on in their thoughts and dreams.
Helping children deal with the loss of a loved one can be difficult, but Farewell, Grandpa Elephant can make it easier to explain what is happening in terms that they will understand. Through the elephants eyes, children learn that even though they will never see a beloved face again, there is the certainty of preservation through their memory.
Isabel Abedi is the author of numerous children's books. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Hamburg, Germany. Miriam Cordes has illustrated twenty-six picture books. Born in 1970 in Hamburg, she studied at the Institute of Graphic Art and Design at the Hamburg College of Visual Arts, and now illustrates full time. She currently lives in Germany.