A Little Blue Bottle

A Little Blue Bottle, published by Church Publishing, Inc., is a children’s picture book on the topics of loss, grief, death, and faith. The sensitive words of Jennifer Grant and vivid illustrations of Gillian Whiting pair together to tell the story of a child who is expressing her feelings of loss when an elderly neighbor dies.

As you read the story, the power of a picture book comes alive!  The girl senses that nothing seems the same; there are changes all around her. Her mother sits with her in that moment and recalls her own experiences of the elderly woman. She remembers the little blue bottle that always sat on the elderly woman’s windowsill. The mother explains the meaning of the little blue bottle by the Bible verse, Psalm 56:8. “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.”

This image helps the little girl understand that God is present in her sadness, saving her tears one by one. The story closes with the mother’s empathetic embrace of the girl as they sit on the back porch. The chosen colors in the artwork depict a darkening sky that simply conveys − it is okay to grieve.

At the conclusion of the book, Jennifer Grant provides a page entitled “Best Practices for When a Child Is Grieving.” This resource list is a guide for adults to help children cope with loss of any kind. The references are compiled with the expertise of therapists and are an added bonus for the reader. One example is that it is important to respect the child by using specific language and avoiding euphemisms.

This past year, many people have experienced immense loss and are asking for an appropriate children’s book to read together. I highly recommend this book for its beautifully illustrated story, demonstrating compassion and a “ministry of presence.” Finally, A Little Blue Bottle by Jennifer Grant points to God who cares and comforts us on our grief journey.

The publisher’s website also provides free activity pages for children based on the book.

 

A review copy of this book was supplied by the publisher.