OLIVE

Lilah is pictured on the book’s cover happily reading to Olive, her loving and attentive feline. The title page, with images of flyers about a lost cat, hint at the sadness to come, and when Lilah returns from school one day, her mother tells her that Olive is dead. The difficult scene plays out in the illustrations, with no mention of the words death or dead, but Lilah’s tears make it clear what has happened. A tree planted in memory of Olive provides no peace, only anger. Through the seasons, the tree grows, but Lilah refuses to interact with it. Enter a striped cat who returns day after day to sit in Olive’s favorite spots despite Lilah’s anger. And then the new cat climbs Olive’s tree. Predictably, Lilah rescues the cat, begins to appreciate and enjoy her memories of Olive, and embraces the new pet. In this gentle tale that treads familiar ground, a child faces grief with help from an affectionate new companion—though an author’s note with tips on dealing with this very difficult subject might have been helpful. The softly colored illustrations are appealing and do not overplay the presentation. Olive is light-skinned with black hair. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

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