Grief Is an Elephant

As an illustrator, it's always the artwork of a picture book that first draws me in.

In this book, lots of double-page spreads allow the beautiful, painterly illustrations to shine. But the text is equally moving. I love the way the author uses animal metaphors to describe the different ways grief can take form.

This book feels like a warm, comforting hug.

I could tell in reading this book that Tamara is intimately acquainted with grief, how big it feels, how long it lasts, and how even after a long time, a little bit of grief will always stay with us.

This has been my personal experience. Grief is an Elephant feels like the perfect book to help a young child understand some of the emotions they are struggling with. Grief is an Elephant is a tender book that shows how when grief first arrives it is as big as an elephant, but with time, it can take up less space. In… show more.

Grief is an Elephant isn’t the book the grands wanted, it’s the book they—we, the whole family—needed after the expected passing of their dear great-grandmother and the unexpected passing of a beloved dog.

Who wants to have to talk about death, and loss, and how much it hurts, and how it doesn’t ever really go away? Grief is An Elephant is visually lovely and the heartful, loving, gentle but honest text gave us a way to begin and continue talking and sharing.