Gone (Thames & Hudson Australia) 2025. Text and illustrations by Michel Streich PB RRP $26.99 ISBN 978-1-760-76492-0
Reviewed by Sylvia Forbes
My fluttering, chirping,
hopping bird was gone.
Its body was still
there, a silent, feathery
shape, but all life had left it.
I love the open space this picture book provides in both its text and illustrations. So much is said with so little.
Gone is told through the internal dialogue of a young, curious and thoughtful boy who has woken to find that his bird has died. It is said matter-of-factly, neither fluffy nor sentimental, yet it is full of heart and feeling.
The illustrations complement the text beautifully. Large, clean swathes of primary and secondary colours - predominantly yellow, orange, and red - are used to create almost collage-like images with the overlays and additions of black line work. These illustrations are minimal yet eloquent and highly appealing to children.
I love the double-page
spread where the boy is crouched over, his eyes lowered, with his head resting
in his hand - and you see another hand, outlined in black, gently placed on the
boy's shoulder. It tells me that although this is all about the boy's journey -
of being allowed to process his loss in his own way and in his own time - he is
not alone. I also love the text placement. Mainly where the text is used
to form stems for the new shoots.
And I thought that Michel Streich's choice of a bird (as opposed to, say, a cat, a dog, or a fish) was clever, with its metaphorical symbolic references - wings, flight, and feathers. As seen on the book's striking front cover.
For such a potentially
difficult subject, with its themes of loss and grief, this text is handled with
ease and remains bright and positive, normalising death as an integral part of
life.
Quiet, simple and child-friendly, Gone provides ample room for reflection and discussion.
But what happens when we die?
Gone presents several possibilities in response
to the question posed within the text. Although there is no definitive answer to
conclude the story with neatly, it arrives at a gentle and satisfying ending
with a sense of hope and continuity... much like the forward upward stream of
birds seen flying across the following two end pages. It is a beautiful,
poetically cohesive and understated book. Suitable for ages 3-6 and
beyond.
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