Showing results by author "Jef Aerts" in All Categories

People fear death (apparently just a tiny bit less than public speaking). We don't know how to talk about it, especially to children, and we're afraid to bring it up for fear of making people sadder. Yet children, especially, have questions, and this incredibly gentle and surprisingly light story is full of both comfort and vividly imagined answers. The first one gives the story its title: A boy hears the voice of his sister calling him one day, a sister he's never met because she died before he was born. The sister in the faded photograph on the wall.

Jadran is five years older than Josh and huge enough to be nicknamed Giant. Josh is younger and smaller, but his sweet and stubborn brother thinks in a way that would be more typical of a small child. They are both dealing with changes to their newly blended Muslim family. So Josh looks after Jadran, and they both adjust. When the brothers find an injured young crane, Jadran wants to bring it back to their small apartment and teach it to fly at any cost. And it turns out the cost is high.