Guide to categories: Kid Review – review of books for elementary-aged and younger children

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About the Book

Book: I Can’t Believe They’re Gone

Author: Karen Brough

Genre: Children’s Picture Books

Release Date: June, 2023

The mouse family has lost someone dear.

Come follow each one as Bear helps them understand all they are feeling and how each expresses it in their own unique way. Tiny is so quiet, I wonder if Bear will be able to help him too?

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My Kid Review

Brough, Karen. I Can’t Believe They’re Gone. Illustrated by Hiruni Kariyawasam.

Grief can be a hard thing for anyone, but it may be particularly hard for youngsters who don’t quite understand. Karen Brough uses a family of mice who have experienced a loss to help children understand that everyone handles their grief differently. One sentence that is repeated several times in the story really expresses the theme of the book – “Emotions aren’t good or bad, or right or wrong — they just are.” You can tell that Brough has experienced loss in her life – Her understanding of the grief process is evident in the story.

The story is very well written. It belongs in the classroom, counseling office, and home of anyone who needs to help young children understand their feelings when they are experiencing grief.

Hiruni Kariyawasam’s illustrations are done in muted tones and complement the text well.

I Can’t Believe They’re Gone could find a place in a K-12 Christian school library. It is written for younger children but the message could help older children as well.

I received a complimentary copy of I Can’t Believe They’re Gone. This is my honest review.

About the Author – Karen Brough

Karen Brough is an award-winning author who calls Australia home. As a wife, mother of three and former teacher, she writes with a teacher’s heart for children. Karen always knew she would write a book about processing loss and grief, so she became a student of the science of grief. When Karen lost a beloved friend in 2022, she turned to writing as part of her grieving process. This story is the result—a hope investment from her heart to yours. She believes it will help others know they are not alone in their loss and reassure those who don’t know what to do with all their big emotions.

More from Karen Brough

This book has been a story of the heart and was written, well before my pen hit a page.

I had a gentle whisper of an idea to study grief, knowing that I would write a book about it at some stage, I began. At the end of my year of study, we sadly had a dear friend, taken from us far too soon. The story came to life as I processed my own grief and its words tended to my own heart.I wanted to write a book that didn’t focus on the loss itself, but rather, gave children/adults some gentle encouragement and hope, in their own loss. A book that invested hope and reassurance about big emotions in times of loss and grief.It has been written in such a way, that the loss is never given a name, so the reader can adopt and relate to the mouse family as part of their own. The readers of ‘I Can’t Believe They’re Gone,’ can download their own grief activity sheets at www.karenbrough.com/kids/