I know, I know! Another Oliver Jeffers book and it's only my third post. This is true however this book is so profoundly moving and honestly one of my favourite children's books that it would be a crime not to share it with you sooner. The Heart and the Bottle written and illustrated by the one and only Oliver Jeffers, beautifully depicts a young girls experience with love and loss. The story begins with a girl, like any other, who is full of wonder and shares this love of all the curiosities of the world with a man we believe to be her grandfather. He sits in an old pink chair and shares with her his stories of adventures past and all of his wisdom which she devours in awe. Until the day she finds the chair empty. I'm going to add in here that at this point I was on the verge of tears. Yes! Oliver Jeffers reduced me to a weepy child at the local bookshop. I'm also going to share here that this was in no way a one off event. I don't always break into emotional outbursts in bookshops but to this day I get a little emotional when reading this story...remember this is a no judgement zone. Back to the story. Experiencing grief, this little girl decides to protect her heart so she places it inside a glass bottle and wears it around her neck (could the metaphor get any more beautiful!). However in doing so she looses all her wonder in the world and as she ages the heart gets heavier and more awkward to carry. The world to her seems much emptier than before. The story continues and I'm not going to spoil it for you (mostly because I strongly believe you should drop everything you are currently doing and get yourself to the local bookstore to buy this gem...pyjamas and all), but I will say that an unlikely encounter sparks a change in the story. I can say with a smile that this book ends much happier than it begins. Not in a typical "happy ending" sort of way but in a there is a kernel of hope sort of way...the best kind if you ask me. The Heart and the Bottle is a story, which for me, holds particular significance. Not too long ago I came across my own empty chair of sorts. A chair that once housed my grandfathers stories and poems...and if we are speaking literally here, a trail of crumbs and icing sugar from his obsession with German finger buns . It was all of a sudden too and it was at this point I could resonate with the feelings of the young girl in the story; feelings which are all too common for those who have experienced grief of any sort in their lifetime. This book addresses so many weighty concepts, concepts which I believe are important to discuss with our children; realities we can't protect our children from forever. In doing so though, in reading this story we are reminded that ultimately there is always hope. A story to be shared amongst the young and old in an old pink chair of your own if you please.
1 Comment
Katelyn
17/1/2015 08:02:00 am
This is just so fantastically written, Kim! I can't wait for you to be able to share all these stories with the kids you'll teach.
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AuthorBook lover, tea drinker and Primary School teacher. Archives
April 2017
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