Where Are You, Eddie?
Michael Rosen and Gill Smith
Walker Books

Michael Rosen has already given us the Sad Book about the loss of his son Eddie and now he’s written another picture book wherein having asked himself, “Where are you, Eddie? Are you here?” he talks to the cat, Meg, about his feelings.

To begin with the author feels that Eddie is not coming back. He’s not anywhere. “Is that the end?” he asks Meg. Meg’s response sends him out and onto a bus where he sits and thinks. He thinks about how Eddie wriggled on bus rides and played a special tickling game. “Are you there, Eddie” asks the author. He’s not there physically on the bus, nor is he tossing chips and catching them in his mouth as they walk along past the fish shop. He’s not being mischievous on school photo day, nor playing goalie in the hockey game, not building sandcastles on the beach with his siblings, nor playing a trick with the cat food.

However, the boy’s father sees that because he is remembered and loved by everyone who knew him (and still is to this day), Eddie is still with him.

Essentially, then, rather than a loss or an ending, this is a special way to keep a loved one forever close. This is a deeply profound book about grieving and remembering that will likely bring tears to your eyes, so make sure you have a box of tissues to hand. Your loved one has left things in the world as a message that says, I’m no longer visibly there but I will always be there for you, in your mind and your heart. Gill Smith captures sadness and happiness both, in her touching scenes of the special memories.

This is a book to share with all children not just those who may have lost a loved one.