This book may be close to home for some children, particularly children who live with their grandparents and may make them sad - as a child, losing my grandparents was something I really feared because I am incredibly close to them.

This story is a metaphor for death and loss with Syd experiencing and coping with the loss of his grandad. He’s in the attic, where he ushers Syd through a door, and the two of them journey to a wild, beautiful island awash in color where Grandad decides he will remain.Subtly told, this beautifully illustrated book tackles a difficult subject with great sensitivity and depth. I liked the symbolism when Syd had to travel back on his own, the waves were bumpy but he got there safely in the end. The recent Danish picture-book, Cry, Heart, But Never Break, was much more to my taste, when it comes to examinations of death in children's stories. There is some real sweetness here too, like the ending where a photo gets delivered of the grandfather living it up on the island - gets across that message that even though someone is gone they might be ok.

Proficient readers bring a lot of assumptions to text, that young children need to be taught explicitly or else learn implicitly though wide reading and life experience. A touching and comforting book that could be used to deal with the loss of a grandparent, as well as a good every day read. My 4 year old has recently started questioning a lot of the normal day to day things and losing a loved one or even knowing that she could at some point die, it was an emotional thing for her understand and she would keep getting upset and asking more and more questions. It's one of those ones that as an adult you get all sad reading it and you're like "life is fleeting!

Parents and educators can use this to talk with a child about how it's normal to be sad and miss loved ones. He’s illustrated for several major publishers and is pleased to be working on Nosy Crow’s start-up list. So like I said, when Grandad's Island arrived - and we honestly didn't know much about this book before hand - while reading it I noticed that everything slowly came into place for her and I could see she could understand it that much more. We work closely with publishers and authors to ensure that we offer the best books on the market for your child. This book, along with its fantastic illustrations, tackles the difficult subject of losing a grandparent in a sensitive and subtle way.

Publishers Weekly 'This book is innovative and useful as a way to talk about the idea of loss-without ever referring to actual death. The sentiment in this book is beautiful as it so sensitively deals with the loss of a much loved Grandad.Indeed, Grandad's Island doesn't mention death at all, but is deeply in touch with the ways in which loss and abundance commingle in the mind, correcting and assuaging each other. Our team is made up of book lovers who are dedicated to sourcing and providing the best books for kids.