Calling the Wind
A Story of Healing and Hope
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
Inspired by the Wind Telephone in Japan, this poignant story explores the stages of grief, the healing power of hope, and the unbreakable family bonds that connect us all. From the acclaimed author of The Invisible Boy and the award-winning illustrator of One.
In a small village in Japan, a family mourns the loss of their loved one. Each family member grieves in their own way, but it is not until they discover an old-fashioned telephone booth on a windswept hill that they begin to heal. Through the telephone, they are able to express feelings long bottled up--speaking directly to their loved one and also to each other. Slowly but surely, the pain subsides, and hope blossoms anew.
Inspired by Itaru Sasaki's Wind Telephone, which brought healing to the people of Japan in the wake of an earthquake and tsunami this story explores grief and loss, and how we move forward by finding meaningful ways to connect with the family and friends we've lost, as well as those who are still with us.
"Truly beautiful and poignant. This book is for anyone who's ever experienced loss or grief, which is to say: all of us." —Katherine Applegate, Newbery Award-winning author of The One and Only Ivan
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Based on the real-life creation of a "wind phone" through which mourning people might speak to departed loved ones, this thoughtful story by Ludwig (Brave Every Day) imagines a Japanese family grieving the death of the children's mother. In loose, blue-tinged washes, Otoshi (Lunch Every Day) paints the family around a low table, all painfully aware of the empty place: "Memories rush in. Feelings too big to hold inside must find a way out." A page turn reveals an old-fashioned telephone box. Here, a young child first places a call ("Are you there?" says the child into the receiver; "It's me"). One by one, family members are introduced to the phone and, via age-appropriate variations, find solace speaking to the person they loved. Their conversations, shown in vignettes ("Can you tell Dad to get us a puppy?"), reveal the therapeutic effect of continuing to speak to those who have died in this account of a family's mourning. Back matter contextualizes the wind phone, visited by thousands after Japan's 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Ages 4–8.
