…[a] sensitive, delicate act of compassion…The first book that Rebecca Cobb has both written and illustrated, it stands as a remarkable achievement…This is painful material, and Cobb handles it with gentle acuity. Her watercolor and crayon drawings are appropriately sweet and childlike, with lots of white space to open up the darkness; the subject matter is grim, but the artwork is airy and appealing…there is no happy ending to this kind of story; you will probably shed a tear while reading it. But Cobb successfully walks the fine line between dwelling on the child's pain and wrapping things up too succinctly…
The New York Times - Pamela Paul
*Accessible and tender.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“A powerful combination of childlike drawings, rendered in watercolor and crayon, and minimal text provides an extraordinary look at the impact of his mother's death on a young boy.” —School Library Journal
“Cobb puts a tremendous amount of emotion in deceptively simple facial expressions and postures and gives her readers small moments of visual humor to balance the terrible weight of the subject.” —The Horn Book
“Missing Mummy says so much in a powerful and visual way—the illustrations speak volumes on their own and the minimal text provides a useful prompt to open up conversations around the many questions children may have when they experience the death of someone important in their life.” —Ann Chalmers, Chief Executive, Child Bereavement Charity UK
“Missing Mummy is a sensitive, moving and beautifully illustrated book which will help children and adults together to share their feelings. It will also be a vital tool for therapists, social workers and foster carers in enabling a child to talk about the death of their mother, or of another significant person.” —Edi Carmi, Independent Child Safeguarding Consultant, Safeguarding First UK
K-Gr 2—A powerful combination of childlike drawings, rendered in watercolor and crayon, and minimal text provides an extraordinary look at the impact of his mother's death on a young boy. "Some time ago we said good-bye to Mommy. I am not sure where she has gone," he says. The boy looks for her behind the sofa, under the bed, and in the yard, but finds only her belongings. He experiences fear, worry that his misdeeds might have caused her to leave, and even anger: "The other children have THEIR moms. It's not fair." When the child wonders when Mommy is coming back, his father, tears streaming down his face, explains that "when someone has died they cannot come back…." Between the opening spread depicting rain-soaked mourners donned in black and holding black umbrellas at the graveside, and the final one showing the boy, still clutching his mom's sweater, but now shown in a flower-filled garden, readers see him, his father, and his sister gradually moving on with their lives. The tears still flow as they view old photos, and the boy still laments, "I really miss my mommy," but there are brighter moments of shared memories and household chores as well, and the boy's consoling conviction that just as he was special to his mom, "she will always be special to me." This honest treatment of death and loss can spark discussion and provide answers and comfort to young children who experience the loss of a loved one.—Marianne Saccardi, formerly at Norwalk Community College, CT
Told from a young child's point of view, Cobb's moving story respectfully explores the complex emotions a little one may experience while grieving the loss of a parent. On a rainy day, they said goodbye to Mommy. Unsure where she went, a small child searches for her under the bed, behind the couch, among the blades of grass. Some things are found--a purse, which brings a grief, raw and deep; a sweater-turned-lovey, which holds memory and reassurance. Emotions wash over the child: fear, anger, guilt, loneliness. Each is sensitively described and depicted, as the small child sits alone under a barren tree, stomps toy trains and tries--with tears--to fix past mistakes. What's more, the strength of family, as they grapple with their shared grief, is tenderly illustrated. The artwork, done in a primary palette, skillfully emulates the innocence of a child's drawings, and the compositions, with symbolic swaths of empty space, adeptly capture the child's sense of loneliness. Appealing, effective and authentic, they perfectly illuminate the text, as the family finds solace, warmth and healing through the sharing of stories and memories. Accessible and tender, this story gives young children a voice and shows how to hold the memory of a loved one close. (Picture book. 3-7)
