A Phone Booth for Grief

If you are a regular follower you know I’m having a total love affair with Heather Smith’s writing.  From her middle grade to her young adult work and through to her picture books, her writing is inspiring, diverse and equitable.  The Phone Booth in Mr. Hirota’s Garden is the latest book to add to Heather Smith’s brilliant bibliography. Rachel Wada, who brings the story to life with her gorgeous illustrations combining traditional Japanese art forms and techniques and giving them her own spin, uses a muted colour palette to convey the feeling of loss and sadness.  This is the story of a great tsunami that takes Makio’s father and also Mr. Hirota’s daughter. It’s a story of grief and finding comfort in the power of words. Mr. Hirota builds a phone booth in his backyard after the tsunami and in it places an old rotary telephone. The telephone is not connected to any wires, it simply sits there as an invitation.  Mr. Hirota uses it to speak to his daughter, Makio uses it to speak to his father, hoping their words are carried away on the wind to greet their loved ones who have gone.

Together Heather Smith and Rachel Wada create a story inspired by a man named Itaru Sasaki who built a telephone booth in his yard as a way to grieve the death of his cousin.  In this book, children and their loved ones are given another vehicle to work through loss. It could apply to the loss of a family member or even a loss of a pet.  I love how Heather Smith embraces the ugly parts of life. She is compassionate in her writing and is creating stories our children so desperately need. Her stories offer a vehicle so people can see themselves reflected in the pages, feel comfort and hopefully feel seen and heard.