Hello, friends. We’re back today with an advantageously-timed review: Death of Cupcake: A Child’s Experience With Loss, written by Susan Nicholas, MD and illustrated by Basia Tran, a transcendental look at what happens to loved ones when they leave this world.

Like the seasons, all things must change, going through a cycle of aging and renewal that is universal to all living things. And since the people and creatures we love are themselves living things, occasionally we must say goodbye as they move to the next stage of existence. Following a group of children as they experience personal losses – a boy’s grandma, a pair of sisters’ grandfather, and a girl’s dog, Cupcake – the narrative weaves through moments of the children processing their losses with thoughts on what happens to our consciousness after this life is done.

Books about grief for children can be tricky, from striking the proper tone for little ones to working within or around wildly divergent religious and cultural beliefs about the afterlife. And while Nicholas’s metaphysical prose and rotating narratives are occasionally confusing for young readers, the overall theme is nicely, and occasionally beautifully, explored. Tran’s energetic and soulful illustrations add immensely to this, creating scenes that are colorful and comforting (one exception being the depiction of the boy and his father grieving over the very recently departed body of his grandmother, which while toned down and fitting the theme, still feels a little intense). The text’s meditation on the transference of conscious energy is heavily influenced by the author’s background in the metaphysical, but the simpler lessons prove to be the most universal, such as comparing passing away to a caterpillar becoming a butterfly (accompanied by a stunning illustration depicting the same). The length is fine, and JJ enjoyed the art. This one is a little convoluted, a little repetitive, a little too wordy, and oddly lacking in Cupcake’s story, but is still filled with enough heart and genuine emotion that these stumbles are easily overlooked. Earnest, sweet, and Baby Bookworm approved.

(Note: A copy of this book was provided to The Baby Bookworm by the author in exchange for an honest review.)