This was such a sweet boook. Beautifully written and illustrated. Shows how stories help heal people. Highly recomend this book!

This is a look at grief as a girl deals right grief over her grandfather. This was an interesting read.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC

I liked the full circle this story creates. The prose is very poetic and melodic, and the art is cute to look at and matches the words. It shows just how important stories are, passed down from one generation to the next.

The Bookship highlights the value of handing stories down from generation to generation in a way that is fresh and captivating. The illustrations are bright and interesting.

I loved this book about stories. This is a beautifully illustrated children's book. I think this book is excellent for a child's imagination.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

The Bookship by Hiba Noor Khan is such a gentle, emotional story about memory, loss, and how stories keep people with us even when they start to fade.

When Alia’s grandad’s stories begin to disappear, she feels that loss deeply, but then the Bookship takes her on this magical journey through jungles and stars, showing her that stories don’t actually vanish. They live on when we share them, which is such a simple idea but it really lands.

The illustrations by Julian Ariza are beautiful and add so much to the experience. They feel soft and dreamy, and honestly carry a lot of the emotion alongside the text.

It’s a quiet, heartfelt read that would be perfect for kids, but also one that adults will feel too, especially if you’ve ever been afraid of forgetting someone or being forgotten.

This beautiful and sweet story about stories, and grandfatherly love. It has beautiful illustrations and a quiet story about a girl and her grandfather who bonded over stories.

When the little girls grandfather dies she struggles to find the stories but does once she discovers the bookship in a note he left her. With the bookship she is able to explore her imagination and share the stories and memories of him.

A sweet book with a twinge of sadness but overall beautifully written and illustrated.

Alia’s grandfather has a story for every occasion — until he gets dies and the stories stop. Or so Alia thinks. But Grandfather left a note behind especially for Alia: “At the full moon, on the clifftop stand, seek the Bookship and wave it to land.” What could that mean? Even adults will be impatient to find out the answer!

With author Hiba Noor Khan’s poignant story and Julian Ariza’s unforgettable offbeat pictures, The Bookship is a book readers will remember long after the beautiful story ends. And isn’t that as it should be?

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley, Publisher Spotlight and Ketebe Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

What interesting illustrations. This book had a great balance of text to pictures and the placement on the page of each was just right. I enjoyed the hopeful tone of the story and would recommend it.

Bookship is such a tender, beautifully written story about the bond between a granddaughter and her granddad. Their shared love of storytelling feels really special, and you can feel how much those moments mean to her.

This story gently explores loss when her granddad passes, and how she learns to carry that connection forward by creating her own imaginative stories. It’s a really meaningful message about love, memory, and finding your voice but it does come with an emotional weight. Because of that, I’d probably recommend this one for slightly older children who can better process the themes of grief and loss. It’s incredibly sweet, just something to be mindful of depending on the reader.

The illustrations are absolutely stunning! Overall, a heartfelt and memorable read that celebrates storytelling, connection, and the lasting impact of the people we love.

I read this with my 4 & 8 year old granddaughters. The 8 year old appreciated the stories more than the younger one. They both thought it was sweet and a little sad.