"The Tiny Star" written by Mem Fox, illustrated by Freya Blackwood (Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, Oct. 19), ages 3-93, 40 pages, $17.99 hardcover, $10.99 ebook.
From Australia comes this dear picture book to give families a helpful way of talking about the death of a grandparent. If it doesn't make you a little misty, I don't know what's wrong with you.
The story never mentions grandparents, male or female. It describes the life of a star that falls to earth, and of course it is a poetical-type star, not a cataclysmic spheroid of burning plasma like some people's grandparents.
"Once upon a time, although this happens all the time, a tiny star fell to earth and turned into a baby!"
We see the baby sprawled on the cushion of a big armchair that's inexplicably on a sidewalk outside a faceless house on a city street where a man and woman are walking their dog. This baby is a normal looking baby. All the humans in the book have different ethnicities and clothing styles, including the couple.
They take the star baby — "it" — home and wrap it in a blanket covered with stars. It wears a version of this blanket throughout its life, and so readers don't have to be told which character is the growing and then grownup star. Also, the story never assigns a gender to the star, but the human it becomes looks female -- and so the story seems to be about Grandma.
A good life unfolds in a welcoming neighborhood where everyone likes the star and there are lots of interested animals. Even pigeons are interested in the star.
Older and older and older it gets, until it sits in an armchair again. The older it gets, the more it is loved. Surrounded by a large family, the old, old star shrinks: smaller, smaller, tiny, tiny -- until it disappears.
Freya Blackwood's image of a child staring at an armchair that is empty except for a starry blanket expresses the shock of loss so well that we don't need words. But because the star is a star, you can guess where this story is headed — skyward.
Thinking of lost loved ones as stars that smile down on us forever is a comfort.
Mem Fox's spare, vivid words invite adults to smile as they read aloud. Blackwood's watercolor pencil and pastel drawings on watercolor paper convey a world where grief and joy are shared. The bereft child is not alone. Her drawing process is interesting, and you can read a bit about it on the website The Art of the Picture Book. See arkansasonline.com/1122freya.
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Because the story was written in Australia (and published there first in 2019), children might notice an unusual critter in a crowd scene. It's a possum — not an opossum, a possum. To learn about the distinction, see arkansasonline.com/1122possum.
Read to Me is a weekly review of (mostly short) books for youngsters.