Don't mind me- just over here sobbing about a picture book. First off, really lovely, different illustrations- like inky watercolors. Beautiful. Secondly, there's a young boy with a recently deceased mom, and there are no metaphors or euphemisms used by the gorilla to explain it. Which is wonderful. "A person's body stops working," he says. We all die, he concedes. But not in a depressing way, if that's possible. I don't think this is one I would pull out to read for your average kiddo, but I think it might be a good one for any child who has lost a parent and is going through it.

Stunning and powerful.

A beautiful, gentle story about a boy dealing with his grief after the loss of his mother, turning inwards (to an imaginary gorilla) until he's ready to start opening up to his dad about it.

After mom dies a gorilla helps a child with grief. It brings him closer to his dad and they both heal. The illustrations perfectly fit the text

This book is beautiful. The softness in the watercolors and the slight haze to the illustrations are the perfect setting for a story on grief.

I wanted to like the story more, but some ideas were disjointed (ex. mom is not in the waves she loved, but she is in playing baseball) and a few of the answers took me out of the story. I would definitely use this for the illustrations, but I wouldn't read all the text as it's written.

This is a good book to help children who lost someone they love. The words are comforting. The art is okay.

Beautiful story about grief.

A gentle, poignant story that walks and talks young readers through grief and loss.

The illustrations are really beautiful, and I think the message of the story is as well. It's okay to be sad--and you certainly will be sad in this situation--and it is important to support each other and communicate your feelings. Learning to cope with and heal from grief is an important life milestone.