A three-hanky read

The Purple Balloon
by Chris Raschka

Okay, make that four. I just reread it.

This is a simple book about a complex subject, but Raschka isn't given the task of explaining the hows or whys. His job is to raise a subject no one wants to discuss:

"No one likes to talk about dying. It's hard work."

And if dying is a topic that needs to come up in your household, this slender volume may be the tonic you need to smooth the way.

In it, balloons represent people, a notion explained in a forward by the Children's Hospice International, which will benefit from sales of the book. When dying children are asked to draw their feelings, they "often draw a blue or purple balloon, released and floating free."

Raschka, with his signature splotchy watercolors, reimagines these childlike notions with balloon figures whose strings intertwine, or who loop around to form limbs or angel's wings, with all the attendent symbolism. The circular heads bob together as if huddling around a deathbed or float freely as if escaping earthly bonds, with a few heavy black lines for the expressive faces.

All he does is offer a few sentences that having people around helps -- friends and family, doctors and nurses, quiet or noisy. The same is true whether it's an older person or a child who dies, though it's hardest to talk about the latter. 

Perhaps I'm especially sensitive these days. I'm having to explain this terrible subject to my son, who often asks after one of his grandmas, but is puzzled and bored by my tortured explanations of what's wrong. This book isn't a way to explain it, as I said, only a way to get the conversation restarted on terms he can understand.

Note: Other works by this illustrator include Good Sports.

Rating: *\*\*\

Comments

[brettdl]

It is really tough for a toddler to understand what it means to die. It gets even tougher because everyone has a different definition.

[Renee]

Oh, I absolutely love Chris Raschka! He does wonderful work. Will have to take a look at this one, too. Thanks for putting it on my radar!