The Biggest Thing of All
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley April 23, 2021
Author Kathryn Thurman. Illustrations and Romina Galotta.
Distributor: New South Books
ISBN: 978-1789561173
Publisher: Upside Down Books. Trigger Publishing..
Release Date: March 2021
Website: https://www.newsouthbooks.com.au
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The Biggest Thing of All is a carefully and creatively constructed story with sensitive illustrations that tell gently the very informative life message that everything, no matter how big or small, is a part of something bigger.
Lily loves to help her grandparents in the garden. They cut, dig, plant and pick the flowers and vegetables that they grow. Sometimes Mum and Dad help as well. Grandpa talks about the many things in the garden: how an ant can become a colony, a bee part of a hive, a raindrop part of the river; how something, no matter what, is always part of something bigger.
Grandma stops coming into the garden. She spends a lot of time sitting in her chair eating lavender brownies and drinking lavender tea. Soon she stays in bed all day, until one day, she is not there anymore.
Grandpa is very sad. He stays in his room and does not want to go into the garden. Mum and Dad are also very sad. Lily runs into the garden and cries, stomps and feels so very sad, so lonely and upset all the time. Winter comes to the garden early, with lots of snow covering the garden beds, the trees and the plants. She feels a terrible; exactly like the way the garden looks, cold, sad and very wintery until the Spring comes and she begins to understand that everything is part of something bigger, even Grandma’s passing.
For children struggling with the concept of grief and learning to understand their emotions in a time of great stress, the metaphor of the life cycle in the garden is perfect to illustrate that after the sadness, comes life, hope and laughter once again, even though it is a little bit different to what was there before.
Well considered and carefully blended the watercolour illustrations from Romina Gallotta complement the delicately worded story by Kathryn Thurman making The Biggest Thing of All a book which will help parents explain to children complex emotions, in a gentle and loving style.