Categories: Death & Bereavement, Kindness, Resilience / adaptability

The Memory Tree

'A celebration of life and memories that live on when a loved one dies'. This gentle and comforting book is a good choice for a child who has been affected by the loss of an elderly relative or friend.

Author: Britta Teckentrup
Illustrator: Britta Teckentrup
Publisher: Orchard

‘Fox closed his eyes, took a deep breath and fell asleep forever’.

Fox has lived a long and happy life, but now he is tired. He slowly returns to the clearing in the forest where he has spent so many wonderful times. He takes his last breath and dies. As snow settles over his body, his friends return to say goodbye to him. They spend the night looking back at the joyful moments they spent together and reflect on all the things that fox enjoyed in his life. When morning arrives, a small tree has grown in the spot where fox died, and continues to grow and flourish into the tallest tree in the forest. It is a place of comfort and protection for the forest animals. And so, ‘fox lived on in their hearts forever’.

Britta Teckentrup’s distinctive visual style (a blend of collage and printmaking) gracefully compliments this gentle story.

This video link is provided to help an adult assess the book's suitability for a child's situation before purchasing it. It has been filmed by a third party and hosted on YouTube and is not made by Little Parachutes. More info

The messages we found in this book:

Acknowledgement:

The animals feel very sad about the death of their dear friend and can’t imagine life without him. Remembering Fox and sharing memories about him together helps.
Having the tree as a ‘memorial’ to Fox was a source of comfort. The tree was a place of safety and protection: a fitting tribute to an animal that had shown so much warmth and kindness during his life.

Guidance:

Loved ones ‘live on’ through our memories of them.
Despite his death, Fox was very much still part of the forest community and left a legacy of kindness and protection.
Grieving can be a long process: gradually the animals’ ‘heavy hearts’ began to feel lighter.

Hope & Inspiration:

Fox was kind, caring and thoughtful throughout his long life.

Worth noting:

The author has chosen to describe Fox’s death as ‘falling asleep forever’. Bereavement counsellors often recommend avoiding talking about ‘falling asleep’ when explaining about death as it may confuse young children (or make them afraid of going to sleep for fear of not waking up again). We appreciate that the addition of the word ‘forever’ makes this less likely to cause confusion, but we feel that it might be worth clarifying this with a follow-up conversation.