Always and Forever

This is a fantastic book. I bought it for my sister when her husband died - ostensibly for her to read to her little granddaughter but really for my sister herself. It's a lovely tale about a group of animals who have to come to terms with the loss of one of their own. There is no moralising, no religion, no fairy tales about the hereafter and no sugary sweet nonsense. It is just practical and real. I read it through when I bought it, before handing it to my sister, and found it quite comforting. I am sure my brother-in-law would have approved of this book and it is beautifully written. Adults reading this with children will find it hard to keep a lump from their own throat. I would recommend this book to anyone.

This is such a lovely and sweet book with a very important and loving message that will resonate with both young and old. Beautifully illustrated and completely engaging from the very young to " golden oldies" like myself.

This book was a welcome tool to open conversations about loss with our children age 4 and 7. The story is gentle and finishes on a positive note about hope and life after loss. I would recommend this to anyone with young children who need some help with this situation.

Following a recent bereavement in the family I wanted a book that I could read to the kids. This one was really sweet and I think is helping my kids - they ask lots of questions, which is a good thing. I would recommend.

Ideal book to help talk about the sadness of the death of a friend, relative or pet. No reference to superstition or religious nonsense. For adults and children to read alone or together. Have tissues to hand.

I bought this book to help my six year old daughter better understand and deal with the passing of my mother at an unexpectedly young age. It didn't shy away from the issue of death or grief (and I had to overcome a fairly big lump in the throat reading it aloud to er for the first time) and isn't too cutesy, but it put across the message that it's OK to be sad, to miss someone when they are gone and to cry sometimes and also that it's OK to smile and laugh when you remember things about them and your happier memories, which is eventually what you are left with. My daughter pulls it out from time to time when things are on her mind and she doesn't quite know how to verbalise them, and also, on occasion just because she likes the story and enjoys the pictures, I would highly recommend this, particularly for those helping young children deal with grief.

Working in a early years setting we recently unexpectedly had a member of staff pass away. This book has really helped the children (and adults) . There is no mention of Heaven or God. It is simply about a group a friends who are sad that their friend is no longer here. In time they realise that it's ok to be sad and talk about their friend. They remember all the things he used to do, which is just what we want our children to be able to do. The children love looking at the book and talking about their friend "remember when he dressed as a fireman" perfect. Spoiler alert. Of course this book is even more perfect as just like in the book our setting is having a bench made that will go under the Willow tree so they too will have a quite place to go to, to remember their friend. Thank you Alan Durant for writing such a sensitive ,age appropriate book.

We bought this for our daughter to help her understand the loss of a grandparent. Having researched a little on how to explain these things to children, it seemed the best approach for us as a family was to be honest without too much unnecessary detail. I cried when reading it, and again when reading it to our daughter but as we had been advised not to hide our own feelings this wasn't necessarily a bad thing. In the story, fox (who is father figure to the little animal family) passes away and the reader sees the little animal family coming to terms with their loss. For us, it echoes our experience as a family so was perfect as a starting point for discussion or just an acknowledgment of the process of illness/ageing and death. I would strongly suggest reading it before sharing with a child-the family go looking for fox and find him "still and cold" in the woods which not everyone will be comfortable with(though its not morbidly done so don't be put off by this). Fox is also buried under a tree(all you see is a pic of heaped earth and the family looking sad) so be mindful of this too. I think this is a well written book for telling the truth in a child appropriate way and know we will come back to it often over Next weeks and months.