The Copper Tree by Hilary Robinson illustrated by Mandy Stanley

This book is sad, very very sad - please read it yourself first to judge if it is the right book for your young child. This group of kids love their teacher Miss Evans but then she gets sick and cannot come to school. She manages to make one last visit to her class before she dies. In the illustrations you will see she has created a wonderful classroom for these preschool kids.

Their new and wise teacher suggests the children write their memories and these are then engraved on copper leaves and placed on a tree in the school foyer. I sobbed.  

This excellent picture book deals sensitively and truthfully with the subject of bereavement. When their teacher Miss Evans isn’t well and can’t come to school, her class maker her a get well card, even Alfie Tate who’s nearly always causing trouble. She comes to see their play and though she’s lost her hair and has to use a wheelchair, she smiles all the time. Not long after that, another teacher Mr Davis tells them that Miss Evans has died. It’s alright to feel sad, he says, or angry. The children make remember notes and transfer them onto copper leaves for a copper tree dedicated to Miss Evans. The leaves are bright and beautiful in the sunshine, just like she was. A gentle way of showing how memories remain to comfort and console. Love Reading 4Kids

I know I said this book is sad, and it is, but it is also very gently told with tiny touches of humour. Hopefully the children or child in your family will never have to experience the death of their teacher but this book might be one you could share long after that event. In my former school a very loved teacher did die - very suddenly. She was a reading specialist teacher and so she interacted with children from many different grades over many years. Perhaps the families of children who were deeply affected by this loss might have read this book - but possibly a few months after these events when the feelings were not so raw. 

Here is a trailer (for adults) from the publisher. I didn't recognise the name Hilary Robinson but I should have because she is the author of several books from the splendid Leapfrog and Hopscotch series.

Hilary Robinson is an award-winning radio producer and author of over 50 picture books. Awards include the 2016 Historical Young Quills Award for ‘Flo of the Somme.’

I had been inspired by the local hospice, St Gemma's, who had constructed a Tree Of Life on to which bereaved relatives could hang a copper leaf inscribed with the name of a loved one who'd died, and, motivated by the powerful effects of memory as means of healing, my book, The Copper Tree, was born.

AND Mandy Stanley is the illustrator and author of the Lettice series. 

The Copper Tree is one book from a series called The Copper Tree Class dealing with life topics. Tom's Sunflower deals with divorce; Christmas Surprise shows there is more to Christmas than presents; and Help a Hamster is about care of pets. Even though these books are from 2014 they are still available.