Friendship Quilt by Cecil Kim

Friendship Quilt

Cecil Kim
Illustrated by Hajin Jeong

Hank’s friend Raddie is sad because her grandmother has died.  Hank does his best to try and make Raddie happy again but her sadness is too deep.  Then Hank and his friends begin to make a friendship/comfort quilt.  Each little mouse friend brings a patch from a piece of material that has special meaning to her.  When the quilt is present to Raddie each friends shares about their patch on the quilt.  As the memories are shared Hank reminds Raddie of all her special memories with her grandmother.  Raddie determines to make more happy memories with her friends.

This story is a look at grief, sympathy and recovery from a child’s point of view.  The dialogue between the mouse friends describes stages of grief and how others can be supportive during this time.  It also assures children that it is okay to be sad and that they will survive this time of grief and move on to happy times again.

The last page in the book gives idea on how to make friendship/sympathy/memory quilts from paper and ribbons.  There is also a website listed for ideas that the adult reading the book can access for more ideas on activities to help a child dealing with grief.

Cecil Kim has taken a tough topic and put it into a story with characters a child can see as friends.  She creates a sense of community in her story and shows how we can help each other in sad times. Hajin Jeong’s illustrations add a sweet touch to the text. 

I received this book free from the publishers in exchange for my honest review.