Tiffany Papageorge

This was a beautiful children's book with gorgeous pictures that deals with loss and grief. The concept is a hard one to cover with children, especially little ones so this is one of those good introductory books to start off with although I noticed the feeling of guilt wasn't covered within the book like I think it should be.

The writing was simple and clear but altogether it wasn't the story that really made this book. Instead the majority of this book could be told by the pictures from when the world went from colored to grayscale while slowly introducing colors back into the life of a child.

Again due to the content material I think it was a noteworthy book for trying to reach out to children on a level they could understand. There were bits and pieces that didn't quite make sense to me as an adult but it doesn't take away from the book.

**Received this book as part of the Early Reviewers at Librarything.com for free in exchange for a review**… (plus d'informations)

First off, the hardcover book itself is nice. Thick, glossy pages make a nice feel in your hands as your read.

The first pages are full of color with a happy feel. The way to balloon flies away was surprising and the pages after are now less full of the illustrations and they're muddier in color. Until the very end when Joey realized that just because his balloon is gone, doesn't mean he can't be happy remembering the good times they shared.

"Then one day. In one second. Everything changed."

Death can be that fast and reading about Joey and his struggles after his balloon flew away brought tears to my eyes. The stages of grief are illustrated as well as the feelings of "sad most of the time", "a lot of the time", and "some of the time". Until a trip to the park . . .

"Once more. In one second. Everything changed."

Tiffany has taken a hard subject and simplified it just enough. Along with Erwin's illustrations, this is a book deserving a spot in our school and home libraries.… (plus d'informations)