Love the book. What a fresh way to help children cope with grief. Also appreciated the added 5 stages of grief and activity in the back of he book. enjoyed the illustrations as well. Will recommend!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It is a terrific way to help children process grief. The questions throughout the book are also an amazing way to get children talking about what they are feeling. The illustrations are also quite beautiful! I would recommend this book to anyone. ( )

What a wonderful book about sadness and letting others help you with the load of heaviness when you've had a loss.
Enid has lost her grandfather and as she journeys with this loss, she meets other special people who can each help with a little bit of her loss. As she shares her grief she comes to realize that sharing that grief with others doesn't erase that loss, but helps her to move forward.

This book has some some wonderful resources. A Before Reading, While Reading and After Reading set of questions. These questions will help guide a discussion on what grief is. Also included is a description of the five stages of grief and an activity to try with younger ones. ( )

The Heavy Bag: One Girl's Journey Through Grief by Sarah Surgey is a book for dealing with grief through a child perspective. Grief is not always the easiest topic to present to a younger audience or even discuss in general. This book broke down grief into a way to physically symbolize the weight on feels when holding there grief all to themself. Showing the power friends can hold to relieve you grief when you share the burden that grief can have when carrying everything alone. Prior to starting the book it has a question page of different question to ask yourself in different parts of the book. It also has. a lage at the back that showed the different grieving stages. It allows the person to understand the phase of grief that may go impact the during a trauma. I thought this book was well thought out and would be really helpful for parents to use as a guide when dealing with situation that sometimes leave us speechless.

Thank you librarythings, Cardinal Rule Press and Sarah Surgey for allowing me the opportunity for an early release in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Everyone is affected by grief. Well meaning adults think that they will upset a child if they talk about it so they say nothing. Reading this book to a child would open an important conversation. I have learned firsthand that talking about your grief is one of the first steps to healing. In the story Enid has just lost her grandfather and carries a backpack with mementoes of time spent with him. I loved the imagery of this - Enid's grief is in the backpack. One by one we learn what the mementoes are and how she can remember her beloved grandfather. Enid's feelings are validated. That's another important message. Everyone will lose someone they love in their lifetime. This book should be on your shelf to help your family deal with the loss.