SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE

“This is not goodbye, sweet child. / I’ll see you on the other side….”

Minor’s rhyming, first-person verse reads as though spoken by someone who has already passed away. While belief in the afterlife isn’t universal, many readers will find comfort and peace in the text’s gentle, loving reassurance, which avoids imposing a specific belief system by omitting words like heaven, soul, and spirit. Meanwhile, Rahman’s digital illustrations present diverse children grieving, remembering, and honoring the dead. The opening spread depicts a sleeping brown-skinned child, a photograph of a tan-skinned adult on the nearby nightstand. On the facing page, the same adult pushes the child on a swing. Accompanying text reads, “I’ll still be in your dreams / and all the quiet spaces in between. / My light shines within you, / though it may be unseen.” Later, another child with darker skin and braided black hair stands before an altar decorated for Dia de los Muertos, gazing at a portrait of an elder. Though hints in the visuals cue characters as, for instance, Latine or Muslim, the text is kept general, and its ambiguity around the circumstances of loss in each scene will, in turn, allow a range of readers to relate to the emotions they experience. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A comforting, useful book for children dealing with loss.