For Some, there is a language barrier between grandchild and grandparent. For me, my grandparents spoke french better than English. This would be especially true for any readers whose grandparents may currently live in or arrived in Canada from a different country. Love is a universal language and although we may not be able to communicate with words, love always shines through just as Naseem Hrab shares in her beautiful new picture book The Sour Cherry Tree illustrated by Nahid Kazemi.

A little girl is going to visit her baba bozorg’s (grandfather) house. He just recently died and it’s time to start making arrangements. With her mother they go back to his house and the little girl takes readers through her memories of the things she would do with baba bozorg when she visits. Readers will feel the love exude from the pages. The little girl shares all the best things about baba bozorg taking readers through her grieving process as well. 

Children grieve differently from adults and The Sour Cherry Tree is a beautiful reminder to remember, remember all the love and fun of the person who has died. We get to learn that baba bozorg was a poet in Iran and he spoke Farsi. We know that he loved Ceylon tea and fig biscuits. These will all be things that bring up fond memories of Baba Bozorg. Parents can take the lead from this story to help their own children navigate a death in the family.

One of the things I am loving about Naseem Hrab’s picture books lately is they are a little bit sad. You may think that you wouldn’t want a sad picture book but children get sad, all of the time. This story, being about death and remembrance, didn’t need a feel good ending because death is sad, there is no getting around it. Through the little girl’s beautiful recollections of baba bozorg readers may feel a little sad but also be reminded of their own grandparents and how much they love them.

Nahid Kazemi’s illustrations are gentle and soft, just like the subject matter. She incorporates many tones of cherry red, a nod to the cherry tree in baba bozorg’s backyard. Her illustrations are not ones that I’m generally drawn to however, fit the mood and subject of the story to a tee.