Missing Mummy

Death is such a difficult concept for young children to understand – adults too, for that matter.  In this brave and beautifully produced book, a little boy must come to terms with losing his mum.  At first he is simply confused.  Why can’t he find her?  He looks everywhere.  He’s scared, and then angry, and then worried that she’s left because of something he has done.  Daddy finally understands what the little boy is going through and explanations follow.  The basic point is that death happens ‘because your body doesn’t work any more’.  When the child understands this, he knows that he and his dad and his sister are still a family and that they can share memories and help with the tasks mum used to do, and that she will always be very special.  The illustrations are a superb combination of the white spaces of grief along with child-like, almost naïve, paintings of the little boy and his family, many of them achingly moving.  The book was produced with the help of the Child Bereavement Charity, and this shows in the sensitivity of the text.  Rebecca Cobb is new to children’s books and is a talent to watch.