Alone like me by Rebecca Evans

A hopeful, universal story about the power of friendship to dramatically improve 

the quality of everyday life. Kirkus Star review

A beautiful purchase about friendship even in difficult circumstances. 

School Library Journal

Publisher blurb: Liling and her family have moved from their rural farm to an overwhelming urban city. Because of Chinese law, Liling can't go to school and spends her days with Mama or Baba at work. At the playground, the other children throw sand at her and tease her old red coat and dirty shoes. But after she shares a smile with a girl in a bright yellow jacket who lives in an apartment beneath hers, Liling has a big idea! She draws a picture and lowers it down to the girl - Qiqi - who returns it with a drawing of her own. When the new friends meet face to face, Liling takes Qiqi's hand, and they walk bravely into the park - together.

This is a perfect book to share with children when you talk about the concepts of Windows and Mirrors - or in this case just 'Windows'.  I am sure the children in your Australian library group will have no idea that some children cannot to go to school. Reading about children who live very different lives to ours is a perfect way to build empathy. You could share this book with children aged 7+ as a way to talk about friendship and even bullying. With students from Grades 5 and 6 you could use this book to talk about the 'Rights of the Child'.

Sometimes I go to work but the can factory isn't a place for little girls either.

Liling cannot go to school because of the Chinese system called hukuo.

The children of farm workers (Chinese: 农民工; pinyin: nóngmín gōng) are not allowed to enroll in the city schools, and even now must live with their grandparents or other relatives to attend school in their hometowns. They are commonly referred to as the "stay-at-home" or "left-behind" children. There are around 130 million such left-behind children, living without their parents, as reported by Chinese researchers. (read more here) Watch this ABC video. 

Alone like me was published in 2022 and is still available. I found a copy in a public library in Melbourne.

Rebecca Evans is a first-time children's book author who has illustrated several picture books written by others, including Two Is a Lot, Plants Fight Back, and If Animals Built Your House. She also illustrated Mark Weston's Finding the Speed of Light, which Kirkus called a "highlight" in a starred review. She lives in Maryland with her family.

If you are talking about the history of China and Mao try to find this fabulous book:

Sparrow Girl

Spirit of Hope by Bob Graham

When you read a book by Bob Graham it is so important to slow down and notice all the tiny details and also you should plan to re-read each book several times because I am certain you will make new discoveries.

On the half title page of Spirit of Hope there is a tiny toy Noah's ark sitting on a Noah's ark storybook. On the title page we see an industrial scene with one huge factory spewing black smoke and a road filled with various trucks. Zoom in closer and there is also a tiny house with a yellow roof. Turn the page and we move closer to the scene. People, including the Fairweather family, are crossing a bridge across the highway walking with dad to the factory gate. It is dirty work so:

"Six nights a week Dad returned from work. The welcome he received was second to none. Each night he made the journey to the bathroom on his hands and knees. ... Dad washed off the oil from the factory. He scrubbed his nails, ten little black crescent moons in a sea of foam."

Once Dad is clean the games can begin - sailing the high seas on their kitchen table boat with a different child captain each night - Lily or Cecily or Micky or Duggy or Sammy or Mary. Along with Jock the dog, Bumper and Thumper, and Trevor the tortoise."

The Fairweathers have a happy life and weekly delicious picnics down on the dock until ... there is a knock at the door and they are told they have to move. 

Bob Graham often includes rainbows in his stories.

It seems impossible to find a new house until ... Mum sees the toy Mary has been holding. Remember that toy Noah's ark - perhaps their little house can be like a boat and move to a new location. 

The ship at the dock is called Spirit of Hope and mum says "We must not despair.  We must keep up a Spirit of Hope."

If you are in the US there have been minor changes to the text of Spirit of Hope - ginger beer at the picnic is now root beer for example. 

Companion book:

I have been re-reading my collection of books by Bob Graham. I own around 40 of his titles - I have a short list of books still to collect such as Zoltan the Magnificent; The Trouble with Dogs; Ellie's Dragon; Vanilla Ice Cream and The Posey Ring. Spirit of Hope was published in 1993 but I have no memory of reading it to students in my school library. I loved exploring it for this post. 

With Bob Graham books you should look for light and shade and spotlighting; zooming in and zooming out; foreshadowing; cozy rooms filled with shelves of books and soft chairs; families reading books together; clocks and calendars (the one in this book has a lighthouse picture); pets like the rabbits we met in The Wild; scattered toys; and family love.

The Kites are Flying! by Michael Morpurgo illustrated by Laura Carlin

I do not claim to have any expertise about the awful situation between Israel and Palestine - events which we witness daily in our media - but I am glad I found this little book which is set near the wall and explores this conflict from the point of view of a child. This book links with the ethos of IBBY and the vision of Jella Lepman and her message of peace. 

Book seller blurb: A television reporter's extraordinary experience in the West Bank reveals how children's hopes and dreams for peace and unity can fly higher than any wall built to divide communities and religions. Travelling to the West Bank to witness how life is for Palestinians and Jews living in the shadow of a dividing wall, journalist Max strikes up a friendship with an enigmatic Palestinian boy, Said. Together the two sit under an ancient olive tree while Said makes another of his kites. As Max is welcomed as a guest, he learns of the terrible events in the family's past and begins to understand why Said no longer speaks. Told from both Max's and Said's points of view, Morpurgo has created a beautiful tale of tragedy and hope with an ending that rings with joy.

This book was published in 2009. Someone purchased it. Then perhaps it sat on their shelves for over ten years. In 2024 it was donated to a charity and put out at their book sale. No one bought The Kites are Flying!. A couple of weeks ago in October 2025 I went to another charity book sale and found this book for just $3. My copy is in mint condition and has a dust jacket. This book is still available.

Here are some teachers notes from Amnesty International.

Morpurgo wrote this book in response to a series of events: a Jordanian teenager asking him to present the Palestinian side of the conflict; a kite-flying memorial to its victims on Hampstead Heath; a news story about a child being killed while flying a kite. Books for Keeps

Morpurgo's books are all underpinned by big philosophical ideas. They speak of compassion and generosity of spirit, of hope and reconciliation, and they are never less than honest. They don't duck uncomfortable truths. Most of all, they have never struck me as fearful. What they don't do, however, is allocate blame. It's quite difficult to write about the Middle East in a way that is suitable for primary school children. Current conflicts may end in different ways and truths are hidden behind propaganda from all sides. But anyone can recognise suffering and children, in my experience, genuinely want to be able to identify with the lives of their peers in other cultures and situations, no matter how distressing these lives may be. So, a book by Morpurgo, with its compassionate perspective, is always going to find the right mark. Book Bag

Other books you could look at include A Child's Garden: A Story of Hope by Michael Foreman for the very youngest readers, and A Girl Made of Dust by Nathalie Abi-Ezzi for middle readers.

Companion book:

I have now read five titles with this appealing format (small square shape and with colour illustrations by outstanding illustrators) from Walker Books but I have not been able to find a series name:

This morning I met a whale

I Believe in Unicorns

A Swallow in Winter

Captain Rosalie

Once I was a Giant by Zeno Sworder

"I never lost my sense of wonder for trees."

At the beginning of this book, we hear the voice of the pencil. "The picture book maker takes me out every night and dances me across a piece of paper. We rush from page to page ... " until the author runs out of ideas. Luckily the pencil has an important story of her own and the means to share it and so he begins with the words "once I was a giant."

Turn the page and we have an origin story which begins with a tiny plant reaching for the sun. We discover the young tree has shared her life journey with a tiny forest being. The tree names him The Wanderer. Seasons change, birds and insects enjoy their habitat in, below and under the tree. The tree itself grows to a majestic size. A considerable period of time passes ...  but then disaster strikes.

"Machines are coming ... they are a day away."

"Last to leave was the wanderer. He gently touched his forehead to my bark."

Stop now and look around you. How many things in your room, or house, or street are made from wood. Where did this wood come from? I often think about towering telegraph poles and how they too once were trees. Our pencil narrator was once a tree, once a giant, but now, with all the work to write his story she is just a stub. That word stub nearly broke my heart but this is not the end. 

Image source: Thames and Hudson

Trees are part of the cycle of nature. The Wanderer knows exactly what to do with that pencil stub. The final end paper will restore your hope and faith in the power of nature.

Tonight, I am attending an event at a city bookstore with Zeno Sworder. I am so excited to finally meet him! Will I be brave enough to ask a few questions such as:

• Why did you decided to dispense with the usual title page format? Was it difficult to convince your publisher Thames and Hudson that your book should break with the usual convention of picture books?
• What do the letters on your pencil mean? I have been pondering this all week especially after I saw the giant pencil from the book as part of a display in a local chain bookstore.
• Who is The Wanderer?
• Can you explain the decisions you made to compose the title? Once I was a Giant - past tense? Yet at the end there is so much hope that this giant can return.
• Your first book This small blue dot was based on your experiences in your own family with your young child. My Strange Shrinking parents focused on your own migrant family and your relationship with your own parents. This third book takes a wider focus exploring nature and our human impact on our precious world. SO where to next?

This is a book to add to your library collection, and it is one you will want to share with your reading companion or larger group. In an art class, after reading this book slowly, and pondering the deeper meanings, Once I was a Giant is also a wonderful example of highly skilled art and page design. 

You already know I am not entirely a fan of endorsements on the covers of books but the publisher has cleverly enticed the famous Shaun Tan to share his reaction to Once I was a Giant:

"A magical blend of ancient and modern storytelling, reminding us that all things are deeply connected in ways both known and unknown."

And Zana Fraillon said:

"A beautiful, wholly original story of hope and the more-than-human world. Once I was a giant is a stunning blend of language and imagery that sits in the mind long after reading. This is the work of a master picture-book creator."

My friend, who is a former Hans Christian Andersen judge, used the words enigmatic, wise, challenging, deep and breathtaking when I asked her for her reaction to Once I was a Giant. I will share the details of her review when I update this post next month. 

With older students it would be good to research Daoist beliefs that "every living thing holds an essence, a mystery; that cannot be measured or counted or sorted." This is called bianhua. And you could also research the Buddhist idea of pratityasumutpada - the belief that the "relationships that hold together the world are based on interconnection and non-separation. Life is interwoven. We breathe in because trees breathe out." Here are some outstanding teachers notes written by Zeno Sworder.

I love this quote from the teachers notes:  It is impossible not to feel a strong sense of empathy and connection with both the pencil that was once this magnificent tree and her small friend, the wanderer. The book elicits in readers a moment to pause and view the world through a different lens, one that carefully regards, respects and notices nature.

From Zeno: This is a book where the tree is the protagonist and hero. As we all tumble towards an increasingly digital, atomised and urbanised world I wanted to make a story about the natural world that touches on ideas of interdependence, metamorphosis and impermanence. Trees make all of our lives possible but they are often absent from stories because we tend to only care and feel for characters that are like us. This story aims to bring trees alive for young people by telling an imaginative story rooted in recent scientific discoveries about the social lives of trees and their abilities to communicate, learn and feel. The story covers the entire span of an individual tree’s life and the intimate relationships it shares with the forest and the creatures that it nourishes and houses.

With incredible drawings and a graphic style illustrating the natural world in all its glory, this powerful story reminds us of humanity’s connection to nature. Portraying the life of a tree from a little seed through to a giant forest elder, Once I was a Giant explores the theme of the cyclical nature of all life, with examples such as eggs in a nest hatching into hungry chicks. By the award-winning author of My Strange Shrinking Parents, this picture book is truly a work of art to pore over again and again, each time discovering new wonders. You’ll never look at a pencil in the same way again! Readings Melbourne

I have followed the career of Zeno Sworder with great interest intensified by my years as a CBCA (Children's Book Council of Australia) Picture Book of the Year judge 2021-23. In 2023 My Strange Shrinking Parents was the winner. Read my thoughts here. Kirkus said these words which could also apply to his newest book: This deceptively simple tale is laced with profound, beautifully wrought truths. I am certain Once I was a Giant will feature in the CBCA awards in 2026. 

When you share Once I was a Giant with a group of younger students you could talk about Pencil Day 30th March. Here is a post from Kinderbookswitheverything with lots of books about pencils. Of course, Once I was a Giant does have much deeper themes but I think it could be fun to focus on pencils with your lower primary groups. Again, this is way too simplistic but (spoiler alert) when the wanderer plants the tiny piece of pencil I thought of that wonderful story of imagination from decades ago - The Lollipop Tree. 

Reading Once I was a Giant I thought of these books - picture books and a novel:

Tanglewood

(Zeno suggests this in his teachers notes along with The Red Tree by Shaun Tan)

Once I was a tree 

The tree at number 43

One tree

Toby Alone

(This is a novel for older readers translated from French)

I am also very keen to see this 2025 Korean wordless book. Read the Kirkus star review.

Finally in the teachers notes Zeno Sworder references Silver People: A Tale from the Panama Canal (UQP) by Margarita Engle as a text to share with high school students. I am a huge fan of Margarita Engle (I met her at an IBBY Conference). I have shared several of her books in this blog. 

The Final Year by Matt Goodfellow illustrated by Joe Todd Stanton

that next year will be tough ...

that it's time to knuckle down and focus

that it's all worth it in the end

that it's the most important year of our 

lives so far and we need to act like it ...

that it's time for us to step up and become top of the school

that it's the final year.

You can feel the tone of this writing from this extract near the beginning of the book. It feels a little like a rap song:

See the take-aways and neon-washed litter?

The disfigured pigeons 

huddled under railway bridges and flyovers?

Taxis buses pizza-boxes vape shops?

This is not a place of labradors and lattes and electric Audis

this is a place of staffies and cider

and exhaust-pipe smoke,

a place of one foot in front of the other brother

cos what else ya goona do?

Nathan Wilder (Nate) has two brothers, Dylan aged nearly four and Jaxon aged eight, and each of them has a different dad. Mum had Nate when she was just seventeen. Money is very short but mum is sure she can win at the bingo. Mum also likes to drink. Nate didn't ever meet his dad he just knows his name was Nick and he looks a little like Jesus. Jaxon's dad was a bully and a bouncer and he liked beer, lots of beer. He is now in jail. No one is sure about Dylan's dad. Dylan loves spiderman and he a kid always on the move. Nate loves his brothers, but Nate is also battling his own very serious anger issues. 

Early on we discover, just four little words my pile of books to show Nate is a reader (and a writer). Nate sleeps in the lounge room of their tiny flat - how does a kid like this have books? Why are the books hidden? Later we read "when I need to chill I head to the library." and "I've read everything I can find by David Almond. ... His style like music like poetry." Nate especially loved The Colour of the Sun. (I have added it to my own to read list). Then joy of joys the book his Grade 6 class will study is Skellig.

Notice the title - The Final Year. It is the final year of Primary. Nate has one great mate Parker Smith or PS. But when the new classes are formed the friends are separated. PS seems to have perfect life. Clean house, parents with jobs, food - regular stuff. Nate on the other hand has, in some ways, become a parent to his two young brothers.

Mum's out cold still

the morning after Bingo

so I get the boys ready

like I've done a thousand times before.

At the end of Gade 5 Nate and his class visit the room where they will go next year:

The classroom 

belongs to the old Year 6

stinks of 'em

and I mean stinks.

Their fadin name-tags are peeling off drawers

their work is all over the walls

Nate gets the new teacher Mr Joshua. He has no idea but this is so wonderful. Mr Joshua may be very inexperienced, but he is so wise and he offers gentle and caring support to Nate. He also loves to include music into his classroom which made me cheer. 

The other issue at school is Turner - the school bully and his gang. And now PS seems to be friends with Turner. 

Turner's no learner

he'll fight and he'll burn ya

he's done things that can't be forgiven.

Turner man, Turner

those fists gonna earn ya

a stay in triangular prison.

It is heart breaking to witness the disintegration of the friendship between Nate and PS. Thank goodness for his new friend Caleb. Then everything changes because Dylan is really unwell - seriously very very unwell. You will gasp over these scenes.

How can my head

be so full of stuff, Sir

so full of sadness

so full of questions

so full of danger

so full of pain

yet I am so empty?

Here is a description from their journey to the school camp in Windermer:

As we get closer

the hills are whiter than they looked

snow everywhere

like someone's laid down feathers

on the shoulders of a new world.

This book will break your heart and then mend it again. Please try to find this book and read it then give it to your young readers aged 10+ or pop it on display in your school library. This is one of those truly special books that needs to be in the hands of readers. This might be my book of the year. Teachers will love Mr Joshua and also the subtle commentary about the idiocy of state testing of our students - hooray! When you share this book make sure you find the music for "Every little things gonna be all right" (Bob Marley) and play it with the sound up LOUD. Here are some very detailed teaches notes. Matt Goodfellow introduces his book.

Carnegie shadow judges' notes say:

The Final Year is about …

 • The importance of friendship

 • How it is possible to control your anger

 • The power of writing

 • Putting family above everything else

 • How teachers can be inspirational

 • Growing up

 • How tough life is for some young people

 • Putting a brave face on things

 • The importance of kindness

A poignant exploration of change and loss. Nate struggles to come to terms with the changes facing him in his home and school life during his final year at primary school. His best friend moves class and his home life becomes increasingly uncertain after the tumult and turmoil of his brother being rushed into hospital. Can Nate find his place among a fast-changing world?

Highly accessible, lyrical and life affirming, this is a must-have novel that will authentically resonate with so many under-represented children and perfectly captures what this crucial transition period feels like. As such, it is a must-read for adults as well as the children who will devour it. It will also resonate with children who have made that transition and perhaps help them with their own feelings, as well as encouraging them to write for themselves. Love Reading 4Kids

This incredibly powerful novel, written entirely in free verse, really packs a punch. Nate’s innermost thoughts burst from the pages, enabling readers to really connect with his intense feelings of pain, anger and love. Thoughtful black-and-white illustrations punctuate the text of this spectacular debut novel, which is a heart-wrenching and ultimately uplifting read. Book Trust

Next step for me is to find the sequel published early in 2025 because the final words of The Final Year are ... 

Companion book:

Motormouth (now out of print but is sure to be in many Australian school libraries)

The Librarian's Stories by Lucy Falcone illustrated by Anna Wilson

Take your time with this book - you might notice the spots of colour on the cover. The boy is looking at a lady sitting on a park bench. It is clearly cold because they are both wearing scarves. Then look a little closer. Right in front of the boy is a fence of barbed wire and worse in the background you can see soldiers and a tank. But the boy is smiling and so is the lady on the seat. Is she the librarian?

Now turn inside and compare the front and back end papers. This will give you a strong sense that this story is sure to have a happy ending and that things do change for the people in this community. Now turn to the next page - it is filled with alphabet letters all floating into a dark sky. This image continues over to the title page where we see the young boy from the cover reading a book and significantly walking away from a pile of barbed wire towards some yellow flowers and a small bird. 

The story then opens with a wordless spread. The boy can be seen celebrating his seventh birthday near the city library. Then the scene switches and men arrive with cannons and the library is destroyed. All of those alphabet letters from the previous pages are exploding out of the library which is also on fire. 

"The town I live in is filled with people who are scared - like me. Our lights are out. Our water has stopped running."

In the street the boy sees a lady, the librarian, sitting on a seat reading aloud. 

"Her words carry me back ... to my birthday. Before everything changed."

The beautiful ink and watercolour illustrations are dominantly in grey scale to show the doom and gloom of the town during wartime, but the pops of colour help create a glimmer of joy as readers are taken through the hardships of day-to-day life. The librarian on the bench is seen wearing a bright pink scarf so she is easily visible. Anna Wilson cleverly makes the librarian’s words swirl and flow across the pages as if reaching for anyone who will listen. Readers can see words such as ‘remember’, ‘music’, and ‘stars’, indicating that the stories that are being told are happy and encouraging. Canadian Review of Materials

How lucky was I to find The Librarian's Stories. I was looking for a magazine in a newsagent and I spied a box of picture books almost hidden on a low shelf! I saw The Librarian's Stories - I think I have either seen this in library or read about it somewhere - then came the bonus - it was only AUS$5. I guess it is officially a remaindered book since it was published in 2020.

This story was inspired by Vedran Smailovic known as the cellist of Sarajevo who played his music for 22 days to mark the deaths of 22 innocent people killed after the bombing of a bakery during the Bosnian war. A second theme, as explained by Lucy Falcone, is to honour the thousands of libraries that have been destroyed over the centuries. Watch the trailer. And you can see inside this book here. 

"Millions of books have been burned in the senseless violence of war. Many rulers in the past, and the present, feel threatened by stories, ideas and knowledge. They know that books can change people. They know that books can change the world. To them, this is dangerous. They don't want people to learn, to understand, to think for themselves. They don't want people to remember their history."

Companion titles:

The Lady with the Books

Nour's Secret Library

Vanishing Colours

Tomorrow

I previously talked about this book illustrated by Anna Wilson:

Love Birds

The Station Cat by Stephen Hogtun

 

The Station Cat: A story of kindness and hope

"This train is not for you, and you have no ticket, you will have to save to come aboard."

A small skinny cat arrives at the old train station. People waiting for trains do not notice her.

"The colour drained from this place a long time ago."

You will have to save lives and save she does. This young half-starved cat connects with various people at the train station as each face a life crisis. 

"Crowds of people went about their sorrow without noticing her at all."

"If they had only looked closer they would have seen ... Eyes of radiant, jade green staring back."

There are wonderful words used in this book. Here are the colours: ginger, cinnamon, lilac, fawn, amber, carmine and violet. Other rich words: sombre, vapour, spectrum of colours, wistful, and vivid.

Share sentences like this with your older students:

"She paced softly upon graceful, pink paw pads ... "

"Waxed wooden herringbone floors reflecting the light blue sky which chorused the light footsteps that now skipped along it."

Publisher blurb: A lonely little kitten wanders into a dull, gray station, full of dull, gray people. Her colorful fur and bright green eyes bring warmth and life to this weary place, and soon people begin to notice the kitten. As she learns about the different travelers and their struggles from loss and loneliness, the little kitten wants to help fill their world with hope and color, too.

Adult readers will probably see deeper themes in this book (you can see these in the labels I assigned this post) as we watch each person engulfed by the despair of their life circumstances but I think readers aged 8+ will simply appreciate that a small act of kindness can mean so much to each of us.

The narrative itself is grave, detailed and evocative, matching the mood created by the colours and is set out as unrhyming verse so that the line breaks emphasise particular words and images. The movements and expressions of the cat are beautifully observed and the depiction of different passengers invites readers to imagine the stories of their lives and what has brought them to the colourless state at the start of the book. Just Imagine

This is a sophisticated presentation of an important message of the value of community and reaching out to others. ... The story stays with you long after you close the pages. More About Books

Every now and then when I go into the city, I decide I just HAVE to buy myself a treat - which for me is a Picture Book. It can take me a long time to decide what to buy because I am fussy, I want to spend my money wisely and I have three main criteria:

• The book has to touch my soul.
• The illustrations have to be exceptional
• If possible the book should be fairly new (this is not essential)

The Station Cat meet two of my three criteria. And I should add I prefer to buy picture books that cost less than AUS$30 although this criteria now needs revising because so many absolutely beautiful and truly special picture books are now closer to AUS45. The Station Cat was published by DK in London and it only cost AU$19.98.

Stephen Hogtun is an author/illustrator who lives on the west coast of sunny Norway in an old house overlooking a lovely fjord. His picture books cover serious topics in a very gentle, child-friendly way and feature visually stunning illustrations.

Here are some other books by Stephen Hogtun - I am curious about his work and how it came to be published in the UK and in English.

April's Garden by Isla McGuckin illustrated by Catalina Echeverri

April and her Mamma have to move. The text does not say why but the illustration shows the desperation of this event as they run through the darkness, April drops her precious doll and mum bundles her into the car. Mamma says the new house will be good. 

It has a garden and lots of space, but all April can see is closed doors, no children and the rain-soaked garden is hidden because it is so late at night. Mamma suggest April might like to draw the garden of her dreams. 

Remember April lost her doll.  These lines from the text broke my heart:

"And then Mamma said, 'See what else is in those bags.' So, April looked. There was a doll with tangled hair. There were colouring books filled with somebody else's colouring. And there was a set of cups that stacked. April said, 'For a baby!'"

Then someone donates a few old magazines to the shelter and inside April finds packets of seeds. Those baby stacking cups are perfect, and the wet garden soil is easy to scoop. April plants and the seeds and then she waits and waits and waits. 

"Hope is a lovely, magical sort of thinking. It can help you to feel happy, no matter what."

"But nothing felt hopeful or lovely or magical or happy."

Eventually Mamma and April do move into a better place. Those little seeds eventually produce beautiful flowers and so the story closes with a sense of hope and happiness for their future. 

When you read this book with a group of older primary students make sure you talk about the way the illustrator gradually changes the colours used in this book from dull sepia tones and then tiny fragments of colour. Brightly coloured flowers are the focus of the final double spread. You could also talk about the two ladies in the final illustration - a social worker and a woman from the shelter. Take a look at this book trailer from the publisher Graffeg. 

Bookseller blurb: April and her mother have been housed in temporary accommodation. Promised a brighter future by her mother, April finds her life there to be filled with things that are old, broken and impersonal. She longs for her own things and for some beauty in her life but experiences only frustration and disappointment until one day she plants some seeds…

This stunning story about a mother and child starting again is very touching, and could possibly represent the experiences of mothers and children forced to flee abusive homes, or of refugees starting again in a new country. Echeverri’s illustration begins with dark, scribbled pages of rain and darkness, and gradually get lighter as the story progresses and as April’s hope returns. Beautiful and heartwarming. Book Trust

April's Garden was shortlisted for the Yoto Carnegies 2024. 

Companion books on the topic finding a new home:

A Place to Stay

The Colour of Home

The Invisible

Amira's Suitcase

It's a no money day

And I am keen to find these books also on the topic of homelessness and moving into a temporary shelter.

And on the topic of waiting for seeds to grow:

Oscar's tower of flowers

The Secret Sky garden