Rachel Barber
1983 -1999
Official Memorial Website
Administered by Rachel's parents Michael and Elizabeth Barber
1983 -1999
Official Memorial Website
Administered by Rachel's parents Michael and Elizabeth Barber
I found this at work one day (in the bookshop I
worked in) when I was also feeling sad. I bought a copy for both Ashleigh-Rose
and Heather. It is a picture book for all ages. The author, Michael Rosen,
lost an eighteen-year-old son, and it has the feel as if he wrote it
in the hope others might have some insight to his grief. I gave it
to Rachel's sisters when they were teens because I was fearful they may not
understand my deep moods of melancholy (and when I would imagine others may feel I should be over it*).
When I was down, it looked as if I was depressed, but I was, and am, still grieving. I wish there was another word for this. It is not depression yet sometimes I feel others think so long has past that it must be depression. But some grieving lasts a lifetime. Just because one seems to be coping it is rather when one finds acceptance. Coping is the façade. This little book brought a tear to my eye because Michael Rosen was able to express so eloquently how I felt and how, at the time, I wanted Rachel's sisters to understand. It can be a beautiful day but still - there is - sadness; silent tears. But life goes on; all around. (I might add I didn't really need to buy this for my girls because they put their arms around me and said, 'but Mum, we do understand, we feel it, too.'
*I read in my father's unpublished autobiography that three weeks after Rachel was buried a man rang him to hasten him on some request my father was tardy at. My father reminded this person that his granddaughter had been murdered. This person answered; 'Oh yes, but that was three weeks ago.') By Elizabeth
When I was down, it looked as if I was depressed, but I was, and am, still grieving. I wish there was another word for this. It is not depression yet sometimes I feel others think so long has past that it must be depression. But some grieving lasts a lifetime. Just because one seems to be coping it is rather when one finds acceptance. Coping is the façade. This little book brought a tear to my eye because Michael Rosen was able to express so eloquently how I felt and how, at the time, I wanted Rachel's sisters to understand. It can be a beautiful day but still - there is - sadness; silent tears. But life goes on; all around. (I might add I didn't really need to buy this for my girls because they put their arms around me and said, 'but Mum, we do understand, we feel it, too.'
*I read in my father's unpublished autobiography that three weeks after Rachel was buried a man rang him to hasten him on some request my father was tardy at. My father reminded this person that his granddaughter had been murdered. This person answered; 'Oh yes, but that was three weeks ago.') By Elizabeth
Have a Little Faith (A True Story) : Mitch Albom
When I first read this book I obviously realised it was about faith; no guessing game there. But it's not only faith in any particular religion. And for those who do not have faith in a god, still read this. I don't see it as a book endeavouring to make converts. For those who do not believe in a god, look at it about learning to have faith in yourself, and becoming aware of hope, even when everything and everybody are telling you - you are worthless. This is why when I first read it back in 2011 I wanted to send it to the killer of my child; anon. But Mike and Simone bid me not, too. How could I when the reasons for Rachel's murder were obsession and identity?
I wish I had. We need to be realists, One day Caroline Reed Robertson will be released on parole. One way for her not to reoffend is to discover faith in herself (and I'm not talking about a faith in god here). I'm talking about faith and trust in herself; and possibly hope that she can see a future that does not involve taking any other lives. So before you say I am mad, why don't you read this. Mitch talks about faith and God, but the book is also about faith and oneself and faith and our relationship to others.
(A comment by Elizabeth
When I first read this book I obviously realised it was about faith; no guessing game there. But it's not only faith in any particular religion. And for those who do not have faith in a god, still read this. I don't see it as a book endeavouring to make converts. For those who do not believe in a god, look at it about learning to have faith in yourself, and becoming aware of hope, even when everything and everybody are telling you - you are worthless. This is why when I first read it back in 2011 I wanted to send it to the killer of my child; anon. But Mike and Simone bid me not, too. How could I when the reasons for Rachel's murder were obsession and identity?
I wish I had. We need to be realists, One day Caroline Reed Robertson will be released on parole. One way for her not to reoffend is to discover faith in herself (and I'm not talking about a faith in god here). I'm talking about faith and trust in herself; and possibly hope that she can see a future that does not involve taking any other lives. So before you say I am mad, why don't you read this. Mitch talks about faith and God, but the book is also about faith and oneself and faith and our relationship to others.
(A comment by Elizabeth
Blurb direct from book:
"...Have a Little Faith begins with an unusual request: an 82-year-old rabbi from Mitch's old hometown asks him to deliver his eulogy. Feeling unworthy, Mitch insists on understanding the man better, which throws him back into a world of faith he'd left years ago. Meanwhile, closer to his current home, Mitch becomes involved with a
Detroit pastor - a reformed drug dealer and convict - who preaches to the poor and homeless in a decaying church with a hole in its roof.
As the world struggles with hard times and people turn more to their beliefs, Mitch and the two men of God explore issues that perplex modern man: how to endure when difficult things happen; what heaven is; forgiveness; doubting God; and the importance of faith in trying times.
In the end, as the rabbi nears death and a harsh winter threatens the pastor's wobbly church, Mitch sadly fulfills the last request and writes the eulogy. And he finally understands what both men had been teaching all along: the profound comfort of believing in something bigger than yourself.
Have a Little faith is a book about a life's purpose; about losing belief and finding it again; about the divine spark inside us all."
"...Have a Little Faith begins with an unusual request: an 82-year-old rabbi from Mitch's old hometown asks him to deliver his eulogy. Feeling unworthy, Mitch insists on understanding the man better, which throws him back into a world of faith he'd left years ago. Meanwhile, closer to his current home, Mitch becomes involved with a
Detroit pastor - a reformed drug dealer and convict - who preaches to the poor and homeless in a decaying church with a hole in its roof.
As the world struggles with hard times and people turn more to their beliefs, Mitch and the two men of God explore issues that perplex modern man: how to endure when difficult things happen; what heaven is; forgiveness; doubting God; and the importance of faith in trying times.
In the end, as the rabbi nears death and a harsh winter threatens the pastor's wobbly church, Mitch sadly fulfills the last request and writes the eulogy. And he finally understands what both men had been teaching all along: the profound comfort of believing in something bigger than yourself.
Have a Little faith is a book about a life's purpose; about losing belief and finding it again; about the divine spark inside us all."
isbn: 9781847442918 HB
9780751537512 PB
Click Mitch Albom to go to his webpage.
9780751537512 PB
Click Mitch Albom to go to his webpage.
ISBN: 9780763641047
Helpful book
A few weeks after Rachel's burial for some reason I became afraid that I might forget the essence of Rachel. I could remember how the night before that Monday, 1st March 1999, she came into my bedroom with only the hall light on. She said, 'Love you, Mum,' and kissed me on the cheek. Such a tender moment. I remember feeling her hair fall across my face. Then, after her funeral, I thought what if I forget her touch, forget her sound; her being Rachel. So I started a journal; a diary of letters addressed to Rachel. I remember the first night I did this, I went to her room and found some of her clothes to smell them, but Susan had very kindly washed her dirty clothes for us, and I could not smell Rachel. I sprayed her perfume on my pillow slip. I remember Manni telling me that the night he had stayed with us when Rachel was missing he had slept beneath her doona and sprayed her pillow with her perfume. So I sprayed my pillow, and opened the first journal. I wrote these journals for a couple of years - until I started writing Perfect Victim - when try as I might I couldn't seem to write them anymore. I told my father this, and he said, 'but Elizabeth, this book [Perfect Victim] is the definitive letter - this says it all.' And my father made me feel more at ease.
I suppose what I am trying to say now is that if you are grieving, and this may not work for everyone, but I found writing letters to Rachel helpful. I felt as if I was speaking to her directly, and although at times my tears smeared my words the writing of these letters made me feel as if I could lean out and touch her. One night I read some out loud to her - just in case she couldn't read my thoughts. I am sorry if this sounds irrational, but at the time rationality didn't interest me. If we lived in a rational world our Rachel would not be dead. Later, I thought I might type them out but then realised that reading the hand written word was more significant. I treasure these diaries. A few of the letters are in my book. The following is the beginning of my first letter;
The first letter...
24 May 1999
My darling Rachel,
I don't even know what day you died on, or whether you died in pain. I'm sorry. Deeply sorry, from the depths of my soul, we were unable to save you. I do not understand. I will never understand. Fifteen years old. Only fifteen.
We have shifted worlds. Somewhere your family has taken a right-angle and ended up in this surreal world. Caught out, unable to reach the real world left behind. Somewhere our world continues around us, abandoning us in this living nightmare. But then, there is yet another world. Your world.
I am comatosed. I don't know why this is happening to you. I have no answers, but pray you are safe in God's heaven, wherever that may be. I pray you didn't grieve too long for Manni, or for us. I pray you have settled in to your new world, for surely your heaven must feel as surreal for you as our leftover world does for us. I pray we are not tearing your spirit apart. Let your spirit dance, sweetheart.
I think Caroline may have been fifteen when we first met her, perhaps younger. Poor girl - broken girl, a girl with a broken soul to take someone so loved. Did she know love as you do? As you still do? I don't know. I fear this stems from her feeling of abandonment. A feeling of loneliness. But to murder? And why you? ...
A few weeks after Rachel's burial for some reason I became afraid that I might forget the essence of Rachel. I could remember how the night before that Monday, 1st March 1999, she came into my bedroom with only the hall light on. She said, 'Love you, Mum,' and kissed me on the cheek. Such a tender moment. I remember feeling her hair fall across my face. Then, after her funeral, I thought what if I forget her touch, forget her sound; her being Rachel. So I started a journal; a diary of letters addressed to Rachel. I remember the first night I did this, I went to her room and found some of her clothes to smell them, but Susan had very kindly washed her dirty clothes for us, and I could not smell Rachel. I sprayed her perfume on my pillow slip. I remember Manni telling me that the night he had stayed with us when Rachel was missing he had slept beneath her doona and sprayed her pillow with her perfume. So I sprayed my pillow, and opened the first journal. I wrote these journals for a couple of years - until I started writing Perfect Victim - when try as I might I couldn't seem to write them anymore. I told my father this, and he said, 'but Elizabeth, this book [Perfect Victim] is the definitive letter - this says it all.' And my father made me feel more at ease.
I suppose what I am trying to say now is that if you are grieving, and this may not work for everyone, but I found writing letters to Rachel helpful. I felt as if I was speaking to her directly, and although at times my tears smeared my words the writing of these letters made me feel as if I could lean out and touch her. One night I read some out loud to her - just in case she couldn't read my thoughts. I am sorry if this sounds irrational, but at the time rationality didn't interest me. If we lived in a rational world our Rachel would not be dead. Later, I thought I might type them out but then realised that reading the hand written word was more significant. I treasure these diaries. A few of the letters are in my book. The following is the beginning of my first letter;
The first letter...
24 May 1999
My darling Rachel,
I don't even know what day you died on, or whether you died in pain. I'm sorry. Deeply sorry, from the depths of my soul, we were unable to save you. I do not understand. I will never understand. Fifteen years old. Only fifteen.
We have shifted worlds. Somewhere your family has taken a right-angle and ended up in this surreal world. Caught out, unable to reach the real world left behind. Somewhere our world continues around us, abandoning us in this living nightmare. But then, there is yet another world. Your world.
I am comatosed. I don't know why this is happening to you. I have no answers, but pray you are safe in God's heaven, wherever that may be. I pray you didn't grieve too long for Manni, or for us. I pray you have settled in to your new world, for surely your heaven must feel as surreal for you as our leftover world does for us. I pray we are not tearing your spirit apart. Let your spirit dance, sweetheart.
I think Caroline may have been fifteen when we first met her, perhaps younger. Poor girl - broken girl, a girl with a broken soul to take someone so loved. Did she know love as you do? As you still do? I don't know. I fear this stems from her feeling of abandonment. A feeling of loneliness. But to murder? And why you? ...
Homicide: The Hidden Victims. A Guide for Professionals.
Author: Deborah Spungen.
Although titled ‘A Guide for Professionals” this book, written by the mother of a murder victim, is for anyone who wants to understand the position of the family and friends of murder victims, people the author calls ‘co-victims’. These are the victims who continue to live. Following a murder, their lives have changed in manifold and bewildering ways, leaving a trail of symptoms and reactions marked by a sense of powerlessness, loneliness, and traumatic grief. The demands of the justice system and the invasions of the media supply further damage, even while they try to resolve the status of the criminal and so bring closure. The book addresses such subjects as the changed family configuration (the second child becomes the oldest, perhaps), the ‘just world’ theory governing social attitudes which can lead to ‘blaming the victim’ and distancing from mourning friends and family, the grief of grandparents, stepparents, and others grieving for the parents as well as the victim herself, and the importance of the death notification. A very good resource, with clear lists and coping strategies outlined.
Review: Susan Southall (Rachel's step grandmother)
Author: Deborah Spungen.
Although titled ‘A Guide for Professionals” this book, written by the mother of a murder victim, is for anyone who wants to understand the position of the family and friends of murder victims, people the author calls ‘co-victims’. These are the victims who continue to live. Following a murder, their lives have changed in manifold and bewildering ways, leaving a trail of symptoms and reactions marked by a sense of powerlessness, loneliness, and traumatic grief. The demands of the justice system and the invasions of the media supply further damage, even while they try to resolve the status of the criminal and so bring closure. The book addresses such subjects as the changed family configuration (the second child becomes the oldest, perhaps), the ‘just world’ theory governing social attitudes which can lead to ‘blaming the victim’ and distancing from mourning friends and family, the grief of grandparents, stepparents, and others grieving for the parents as well as the victim herself, and the importance of the death notification. A very good resource, with clear lists and coping strategies outlined.
Review: Susan Southall (Rachel's step grandmother)
.
Pub: SAGE Publications, 1997
ISBN 9780803957770
ISBN 9780803957770
.
Trauma and Recovery.
Author: Judith Lewis Herman.
This book was written by one of the medical professionals who defined the condition called Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, and it describes how trauma turns into Post-Traumatic Stress, how the symptoms and reactions across a range of traumatic events from terrorist attacks to child abuse, war shock, and violence of all kinds have certain facts in common and how to understand our own reactions as well as how to help others. It explains how the feeling of distancing from ordinary life affects people socially, and how much easier it is for our society to accept the position of a perpetrator who connives in the act of forgetting, a so much more comfortable ‘doing nothing’ than the demand of the victim, who “asks the bystander to share the burden of pain.” This book emphasises the social context of post-traumatic stress. It describes the stages of recovery, the need for a basic sense of safety, the importance of remembrance and mourning. A truly foundational study, very helpful.
Review: Susan Southall (Rachel's step grandmother)
Author: Judith Lewis Herman.
This book was written by one of the medical professionals who defined the condition called Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, and it describes how trauma turns into Post-Traumatic Stress, how the symptoms and reactions across a range of traumatic events from terrorist attacks to child abuse, war shock, and violence of all kinds have certain facts in common and how to understand our own reactions as well as how to help others. It explains how the feeling of distancing from ordinary life affects people socially, and how much easier it is for our society to accept the position of a perpetrator who connives in the act of forgetting, a so much more comfortable ‘doing nothing’ than the demand of the victim, who “asks the bystander to share the burden of pain.” This book emphasises the social context of post-traumatic stress. It describes the stages of recovery, the need for a basic sense of safety, the importance of remembrance and mourning. A truly foundational study, very helpful.
Review: Susan Southall (Rachel's step grandmother)
New York: Basic Books ISBN 9780465087303
After Life, After You : True Stories of Love, Grief and Hope
S.K. Reid
S.K. Reid
In August 2002, S.K. Reid’s 33 year old husband passed away. This was an unexpected death. Everything seemed so cruel. S.K.Reid found she needed to completely rewrite how she had thought her life was to lead. And with time she decided to put together this book from conversations held with others who had also lost their partner in life; so primarily this book is from this perspective of loss. However, I still decided to read this, although I am a parent who has lost a child and the focus could be considered different; is different. A couple is aware that sadly one day one will probably die before the other, it is just a question of when and whom. With a child, parents hope they will outlive the life of their child; sadly cemeteries are testament to the reality, and then there is also the loss of adult children to consider.
With this book the author interviewed, or rather was in conversation with three men and seven women who had lost their partner. The author describes their reflections on how the death of a partner is like losing part of yourself. It touches on how the everydayness of life is now so totally different. The completeness of death is so suddenly a reality. Some reflected how they kept expecting their partner to be there in the morning or to be coming through the door, or how life seemed so unfair that the joy of sharing grandchildren was now robbed from them. Another considered how she felt anger when seeing a wife complain about her husband not doing enough with the children. She thought didn’t this person realise her husband’s very presence was support in itself.
At first I found the structure of this book unsettling. Each story is slowly developed over the course of the book but is interrupted at the conclusion of the different experiences the author has decided to divide her book by. After the first few interruptions I realised what the author was setting out to do. For the book to be truly beneficial it is important that we have developed a relationship with each person’s story, and I realised how helpful this book could be. The book is divided into 7 parts; ‘1 Pilgrimage; 2 Star-Cross Lovers: the meeting; 3 Dark Night of the Soul: when hope is shattered and the nightmare begins; 4 Emptiness: after they have gone; 5 Strange New World: change; 6 An Awakening: a re-awaking of spirit and 7 After You: dedication.’ (Although I do not recommend it as a read for those recently bereaved.) The author retells the story of how each person met their loved one and shares stories of their life together before their partner dies. This is followed by the stories of their partner’s death, and how they were left in the void of being on their own, or on their own with young children to be responsible for. In conclusion each story looks towards their individual future.
Reading this from the perspective of a bereaved parent there were still passages that I found myself saying, yes, I too experienced these feelings. I could feel their pain. I wasn’t alone, and sadly this was comforting. Grief is part of life, but a part that is preferred to be avoided until it happens. The author considered, as I do, that in the western world death is often hidden. We do not grow up accepting that death is as real as birth. I think coffins should be placed in the home before burial, and then with each new generation we will grow knowing that death is normal. In our situation with Rachel’s death this did not seem to be an option. For one, like others perhaps, I had never considered that if a child died, of if my husband died would I have their coffin in the house. With Rachel’s death we were in shock. Rachel’s death was unnatural and sudden. Rachel’s body was discovered on 13th March but there were two cancelled funeral dates and she was not buried until the 23rd or 24th March. But if I had grown up accepting that when a family member died their coffin was in the house until burial it may have been a more natural eventuation. I know of a mother who has a photo in her family album of her young son’s open coffin which was in their living room. When Rachel died this never occurred to me, although we could never have had Rachel’s coffin open in her situation but we could have had her closed coffin.
I realise I have diverted away from this review, which is why I have these helpful book suggestions listed as comments or reviews. I think I have combined the two here. In the reading of S.K. Reid’s ‘After Life, After You’ a couple of the people mentioned they found grief counselling helpful. Grief counselling wouldn’t be for everyone but it does help one at least understand some of the other emotions that one will experience. Grief is a whole gambit of emotions – numbness, disbelief, sadness, and anger – to name a few. But for those who explored grief counselling they found it beneficial to realise that these variant in emotions could all be classified as ‘normal’.
I have chosen now to list some direct quotations from this book, which describe feelings that I also felt.
’It is not until we love someone close to us that we fully appreciate how overwhelmingly precious life is, and how little time we have to enjoy the blessings of existence itself.
If we collectively and individually lived our lives with a greater appreciation of this truth, then our lives would be far richer for it.’ (p.8)
‘It’s not real; it’s as though you’re dreaming, and any minute you’re going to wake up, and everything’s going to be okay. It’s so hard to describe to anybody how you feel because it’s confusing enough for yourself. It’s as though you’re in another world. Nothing is real.’ (p.76)
‘There are lots of ifs, whys and what fors.’ (p. 77)
‘We were on autopilot.’ (p.95)
‘There’s a whole part of me that’s on hold, that has atrophied, and I have to rehabilitate myself to be able to work wholly again.
Every day has been about taking lots of single steps, rarely on the same path, yet always on the same journey.’ (p. 121.)
‘...when I’m home I don’t have to be somebody I don’t feel like being that day. In here I can be who I want to be or do what I want. If I want to sit and cry, I can do that in here. When you get outside you have to put this face on. People want to see your smile. They don’t want to see you looking sad. Maybe it reminds them. Maybe they think you shouldn’t be sad anymore. But you don’t always feel like smiling.
So here, in my home, I’m secure. I can be however I want to be.’ (p. 137.)
This book is a worthy book to recommend to someone who is a little moved on in their bereavement. I don’t think it is something you would want to read immediately because then what you are feeling is still very raw and I think, personally, that this is unfortunately something you need to experience in your own way. I can recommend its presentation although it did not fit right with me at first, but I came to like its structure and the reflections of the 10 people who the author was in conversation with.
Book Review: Elizabeth Southall (Sorry about the layout with the book quotes but I couldn't work the settings out in this programme.)
Publisher: Jane Curry Publishing
Pub: Sept 2010, Melbourne, Australia
ISBN 9780980721263
Pub: Sept 2010, Melbourne, Australia
ISBN 9780980721263
The following is a link that a Georgina shared with me on the feature film facebook page -I Am You The Movie Rachel Barber. It is a very moving and helpful article, which is written by a mother who has lost a child.
Samantha said she could find very little literature written on the death of a child and, in particular, on how to talk to someone close who has lost a child. She feels, perhaps, it may be because they don't want to know about the agony their loved one is experiencing. She was aIso surprised on how little empathy there is in this world;
"You might hear about the gory details surrounding a child’s death in the media but that’s about all. There should be so much more written about this topic, and additionally it should be talked about more openly than it is. I’m disappointed not just for me but for all the other grieving parents in society that this topic is met with so much fear and silence." (Quote from article)
I thought that if there are other parents who have sadly lost a child they too may find this helpful. I could sadly share with many of her sentiments. However, I think it is also helpful for those of you who have friends or family who have lost children. I could say more but I think the article is so good I do not need. Please take the time to read it.
Here is the link: http://www.mamamia.com.au/parenting/ten-points-i-wish-every-person-knew-about-the-death-of-a-child/
Helpful Article
"How to talk to a parent who has lost a child. From someone who's been there."
By Samantha Hayward
"How to talk to a parent who has lost a child. From someone who's been there."
By Samantha Hayward
I have read Lisa Genova’s Still Alice and Left Neglected, which are books that reflect human illness or injury; early onset alzeimers and brain injury. Now she has done it again.
Olivia Donatelli is a career woman, with a beautiful partner, and everything seems idyllic following the birth of their son. But they notice he is not responding as one would expect and at three he is diagnosed with autism. Nothing is idyllic anymore. Life becomes more strained; nothing seems to be able to help their son, who is very much in a world of his own. She begs him to look at her, to love her, to speak to her; and then he is no more and her marriage breaks down.
She moves to Nantucket to run away from life, to be free of human interaction. She needs to drown her sorrows by herself and in the constant need to know ‘what was the purpose of Anthony’s life?’ She can find no answers.
On Nantucket is a group of very different women; close friends, and book group friends. Beth Ellis’s life has also changed, and she is amazed she hadn’t seen any of the signals that should have warned her. Beth Ellis and Olivia Donatelli lead separate lives on the Island, but then Beth remembers a boy she once saw on a beach lining up a row of smooth white pebbles. This memory empowers her to find her lost love of writing and she begins to write a novel; his story. Both women connected by one boy.
This book explores grief, separation, loneliness, confusion and the quest to find oneself, but this is not a sad book. It explores motherhood, autism and love. I unexpectedly found answers for myself, answers I had been struggling with over the murder of Rachel; the fear of letting go because of the fear of loss.
Beautifully written and emphatic.
Love Anthony
Author: Lisa Genova ISBN 9781439164686
Author: Lisa Genova ISBN 9781439164686
love
rachel
rachel
Transcending Loss: Understanding the Lifelong Impact of Grief and How to Make it Meaningful. Author: Ashley Davis Bush
ISBN : 9780425157756
ISBN : 9780425157756
I have not had the opportunity to read this book yet but it comes recommended by Elyse who posted a comment on the film facebook page and taking a look at the author's facebook page I think this would be valuable reading. It discusses death and grief alongside love and hope, and finding strength in the broken places of our lives.
An excerpt from The Selfish Giant (Oscar Wilde)
This is a favourite book of Rachel's. When I read this it brings happy memories and tears.
Every afternoon, as they were coming from school, the children used to go and play in the Giant's garden.
It was a large lovely garden, with soft green grass. Here and there over the grass stood beautiful flowers like stars, and there were twelve peach-trees that in the spring-time broke out into delicate blossoms of pink and pearl, and in the autumn bore rich fruit. The birds sat on the trees and sang so sweetly that the children used to stop their games in order to listen to them. 'How happy we are here!' they cried to each other.
This is a favourite book of Rachel's. When I read this it brings happy memories and tears.
Every afternoon, as they were coming from school, the children used to go and play in the Giant's garden.
It was a large lovely garden, with soft green grass. Here and there over the grass stood beautiful flowers like stars, and there were twelve peach-trees that in the spring-time broke out into delicate blossoms of pink and pearl, and in the autumn bore rich fruit. The birds sat on the trees and sang so sweetly that the children used to stop their games in order to listen to them. 'How happy we are here!' they cried to each other.
American Title of the Australian film 'I Am You'
The Grief Book: Strategies for young people
Retail $18.99
By Elizabeth Vercoe and illustrated by Kerry Abramowski
Honour Book. Children’s Book Council of Australia 2005
When I worked at Books In Print we did out best to keep this book in stock. It is a children's book but one all ages could find helpful.
It recognises that grief is something we will all face; for example through experiencing the death of someone close to us, facing illness, or a separation; to name a few. It is a practical book and helpful for teens, parents or as a school resource, and most importantly it is accessible.
This is a practical and compassionate book.
Retail $18.99
By Elizabeth Vercoe and illustrated by Kerry Abramowski
Honour Book. Children’s Book Council of Australia 2005
When I worked at Books In Print we did out best to keep this book in stock. It is a children's book but one all ages could find helpful.
It recognises that grief is something we will all face; for example through experiencing the death of someone close to us, facing illness, or a separation; to name a few. It is a practical book and helpful for teens, parents or as a school resource, and most importantly it is accessible.
This is a practical and compassionate book.