Mom’s Sweater

In the opening image of this picture book, a mother dressed in a patient gown sits on the edge of a hospital bed, hugging her young daughter. Both have gentle smiles; outside, daffodils—Mom’s favorite flower—are in bloom. But Mom isn’t coming home; there’s a funeral, and an outpouring of cards and flowers and sandwiches. While the grieving girl is surrounded by supportive people, she is “angry that my friends had moms who picked them up from school.” When she discovers her mother’s favorite red sweater among her mom’s belongings, she wears it constantly until, with help from her father, she learns that like the sweater, the grief she feels “may stay the same size. But my world will grow bigger around it.” Perkin’s firmly inked drawings, punctuated by bright colors, offer a visual consistency that serves as an anchor amid the emotional turmoil, authenticating the story’s trajectory from sadness to acceptance to loving remembrance. Ages 4–8. (Apr.)