It's rare that a children's book will touch me so deeply. The most of them quickly get on my nerves rather than cause tears to well up halfway through.
The empty chair is such a moving symbol of loss. Whether it means death or absence, it doesn't matter.
What matters is that the empty chair echoes throughout the little girl's life. As a result, life is emptied of all meaning. Until that meaning can be filled again. If the mourning goes on too long, one forgets how to stop.
Just as the book illustrates the effect of loss, it also suggests its solution. Another little girl, who hasn't yet felt her life empty out, can lead the way to a meaningful life.
A children's book is not just a story but also illustrations. Oliver Jeffers succeeds in representing curiosity through references to scientific illustration in addition to various artistic conventions. In the pages on the stars, he also demonstrates with out ease or any sense of pedantry the difference between educated knowledge and a child's imagination. When looking at the stars, the adult sees constellations and the child sees a bee with its butt on fire.
I first encounter the quiet rhythm of Jeffers' books in Lost and Found about friendship and haven't been disappointed yet. He makes the magical real. Just like a child.
The empty chair is such a moving symbol of loss. Whether it means death or absence, it doesn't matter.
What matters is that the empty chair echoes throughout the little girl's life. As a result, life is emptied of all meaning. Until that meaning can be filled again. If the mourning goes on too long, one forgets how to stop.
Just as the book illustrates the effect of loss, it also suggests its solution. Another little girl, who hasn't yet felt her life empty out, can lead the way to a meaningful life.
A children's book is not just a story but also illustrations. Oliver Jeffers succeeds in representing curiosity through references to scientific illustration in addition to various artistic conventions. In the pages on the stars, he also demonstrates with out ease or any sense of pedantry the difference between educated knowledge and a child's imagination. When looking at the stars, the adult sees constellations and the child sees a bee with its butt on fire.
I first encounter the quiet rhythm of Jeffers' books in Lost and Found about friendship and haven't been disappointed yet. He makes the magical real. Just like a child.
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