I'll Be the Water
A Story of a Grandparent's Love
by Alec Aspinwall
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
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Pub Date Sep 15 2020 | Archive Date Jan 22 2021
Myrick Marketing & Media, LLC | Tilbury House Publishers
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Description
“Think of it this way,” Grandpa says. “Today, you and I are like two fish swimming together in this lake. When I die, things will be different. I won’t be a fish anymore, but I’ll become something even better. My love will be like the water in the lake. You might think I’m not with you, but we’ll be closer than ever because you’ll be surrounded by my love.” Long after Grandpa dies, Joshua comes to understand that Grandpa kept his promise—and that love and its memory survive death. When grown-up Joshua goes fishing with his daughter, he teaches her what Grandpa taught him: “She knows we never have to feel alone or afraid because we are surrounded by a love that lasts forever.”
“Each memory is like a special gift I can unwrap again and again,” said Grandpa. “And that’s a gift I want to give you, too.”
Featured Reviews
I was very close to my grandfather and now my children are creating that same type of relationship with my father. They liked this book, especially my oldest who is interested in fishing. It was a sweet book and I highly recommend for those who may be coping with the loss of a grandparent. The illustrations were done very well. A nice easy read.
I have a tough time with picture books about death because I am a crier by nature (I could cry reciting a well written shopping list) and I've dealt with so many deaths of family and friends that tears are pretty much already bubbling at the surface any given minute. Most picture books about death are also kind of horribly done, so I didn't even request an ARC of this book when I saw it on Net Galley until a Goodreads friend recommended it. I'm glad I did, even though there's no way I'll be able to read it to my children without a box of tissues and waterproof mascara, especially since we are currently losing their wonderful grandmother to Alzheimer's and cancer, making this book both especially timely and especially hard to read.
If you have to read a book about death to children (and really, we all should -- books help with pretty much everything), this is one of the best I've seen. It's beautifully illustrated, sweetly told, not too wordy, and full of love. It does not go into belief systems like heaven or reincarnation, just the idea that the loved one will be a part of everything around the child. I especially appreciated the multi-generational ending of the story, where the boy whose grandfather told him "I'll be the water" (all around you instead of the fish alongside you) becomes the father with his daughter in the boat. You do get a sense that the grandfather is now a part of their life, even for the little girl who never met him, and continues to surround them.
This really is the sort of book every home and library should have, because it gently comforts and prepares children for those goodbyes we can't protect them from. Highly recommended. And I'm crying again....
I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.
This is such a beautifully shared story, a gentle way of sharing with young readers the belief that love lives on even when life is gone. A story of a grandchild asking his grandfather if he’s getting old, and later on, when he has to go to the hospital, worries about his grandfather dying. His grandfather is his fishing buddy, and one day when they’re out on the lake fishing, he tells him that when he does die, that he will still be with him, even if he is no longer physically there, that ”My love will be like the water in the lake. You might think I’m not with you, but we’ll be closer than ever because you’ll be surrounded by my love.” Years later, when he has a child of his own, and takes his own daughter fishing, he passes on this wisdom shared by his grandfather. ”Each memory is like a special gift I can unwrap again and again.”
This story tackles this complex topic to discuss with young readers, and offers a reassuring and loving outlook of love living on from generation to generation.
Pub Date: 16 Sep 2020
Many thanks for the ARC provided by Myrick Marketing & Media, LLC / Tilbury House Publishers
#IllBetheWater #NetGalley
Helping with Loss and Grief
This is a sweet book about a grandfather's love and preparing his grandson for his death. In the early parts of the book, we learn how much the grandson loves his grandfather and all that they do together. The little boy notices that his grandfather does not seem to be as well as he used to, and Grandpa does go into the hospital. When he gets out, he and the grandson have a heart-to-heart on a fishing trip. Grandpa shares that he isn't afraid of dying. His grandson won't be able to see him with his eyes after he passes but will be able to see him with his heart. Grandpa states that the lake they fish in is like his love for him. When the grandfather does die, the grandson is very sad but remembers what his grandfather told him. Final pages show the grandson as a grown man taking his daughter out to fish, teaching her the lessons his grandfather taught him. This book would be perfect if your child is soon to face the loss of a grandparent or has recently done so. It provides a fresh perspective on death and our connections to loved ones who have gone before us. It does so gently and with a loving spirit that I think a child could connect with and understand at a deep level—even if they could not verbalize its impact. Highly recommended.
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