A Sky of Diamonds
Camille Gibbs
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
When Mia hears that her mother has died (in an accident at work), the colour drains right out of her world. She tells readers just how it was for her: some days she was unable to get out of bed, on others she couldn’t sleep. “There were days when my heart hurt so much it was hard to eat, hard to breathe and sometimes it felt hard even to be me anymore.” she says. Her dad explains that Mia is grieving and there will be up days and very down days, rather like being on a roller-coaster. She feels a volcanic kind of anger deep inside ready to explode at any time; perhaps she’d done something to cause the death; what if her dad died too?
After the anger comes sadness and it’s then that Mia’s dad suggests a memory box …

wherein they can both put things connected with special memories and at the same time, have a time together when they could talk about Mia’s mum and she could ask questions.
Slowly there come times – her birthday is coming up – when Mia is able to feel a little more positive about life  That’s what her mum would want, Dad tells her. Eventually Mia finds her own way of coping: she looks at the stars and talks to the brightest one.
Written by a social worker who has much experience with children who have suffered the loss of family members, this is an extremely helpful resource for children having to cope with the loss of a loved one and those adults having to support them through their grieving; it’s strength is most definitely the first person narrative and the activities embedded within the text.

 

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