The Memory Tree

Bought this book to try to talk about the topic of a grandparent who had passed away to my 3 1/2 year old. I chose this book over others as I felt it was better suited to her age and liked that it didn’t focus on death but more on remembrance. The story is very appropriate and tells it in a way she understands. The pictures are also lovely. She likes to see at the end of the story the other animals using fox’s tree as their home and so fox lives on forever. She regularly talks about how her grandad will live on in her memory like the fox and she regularly asks for it to be read to her so I know this book was the right choice.

It's a lovely story, with very sweet pictures. I had to return it as I was looking for a book to help my child deal with a loss of a friend and the "fox lived a long and happy life" doesn't suit with a death of a 3yo, but it would work very well with the death of a grandparent.

Beautiful perspective of death. Perfect for a 5-6 year old to understand this important and natural event of life. Thank you

I did research a book to find a child like story about losing someone, I particularly wanted it to not be someone old. Unfortunately this book said it wasn’t about an old person passing but it was an old fox that passed away! Still a lovely story however this was bought for my niece who had lost her young uncle

The story and illustrations are beautiful. Very hard to get through without crying every time. This was perfect for my 4yr old after she lost a loved one. I love that it encourages children to talk about their loved ones

Lovely book, my only issue is the use of the term 'went to sleep forever' for dying. I've avoided that term with my daughter (she's 4 and our cat had just died so we had been talking about dying a lot). Many psychologists and child development specialists talk about the danger of using the term 'gone to sleep' as it can make children scared of going to sleep in case they don't wake up again. I was so uncomfortable with the words 'dead, dying, died' but I forced myself to use them so they aren't so scary and taboo as my daughter grows up and saying them more has also helped me be less scared of them! So when I read this book I just change that sentence to 'he lay down and died'. One day she will be able to read it herself but hopefully by then she will be less confused...I hope!

An absolutely amazing book, moved me to tears by the first page. Was lovely to read after the loss of our beloved cats Rani and Nasri, we ended up planting lots of flowers for Nasri and a little tree for Rani. It's now a favourite book of ours and strikes up conversation about how we all feel. My daughters are 4 and 5, this has helped them a lot. Would highly recommend this book.

Very nice telling of the cycle of life and the value in keeping the memory of a loved one alive. Very useful to support children with bereavement, but also a lovely story to be part of the regular books to read with the children. Lovely art work too. I bought it to be one of the regular books we read but have also bought it for others after a bereavement. Only slight shame is that the fox ‘lays down to go to sleep forever’, I would rather it not use the sleep analogy, but that is just a personal preference. The rest of the story is lovely. Very pleased I bought this book, I would (and have) recommend it.