CALLING THE WIND

A telephone box and a little imagination help a family confront their grief.

An Asian-presenting family sits around a low table with a conspicuously empty seat. The scene is depicted in a soft, muted, melancholy blue, while a memory of a meal with the now-departed loved one is shown in sunny yellow. That yellow hue then reappears in the form of a bird, which guides one of the family members to a telephone box where they have a (one-way) conversation with their loved one (“Can you hear me? I just hear the wind. Is that you?”). Other family members have conversations, too; after, each discovers a yellow flower and brings it back to the house, adding to a growing bouquet on the table. When one of the members learns about this, they break the vase, furious, scattering the flowers and the family. Only when the anguished member finds solace through the telephone can they also find peace with their family. Structured around the seasons, poetic text alternates between narration and dialogue. Sensitively composed illustrations, rendered in watercolor, pen, and colored pencil in a pastel palette, use colors thoughtfully. An author’s note explains that this telephone box (kaze no denwa, or wind phone) is real and located in Ōtsuchi, Japan; it was created by Itaru Sasaki as a way to cope with the death of his cousin, and it has provided solace for others, including those affected by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A beautifully written, quietly poignant depiction of one family’s journey through loss.