Celeste and I discovered a new-to-us author last week, Oliver Jeffers. I had picked up The Heart and the Bottle from the library display shelf. I was attracted by the cover and the art I saw flipping through a few pages. Once home, I read the story aloud to Celeste. I am so glad I waited until we were home to read it because it brought me to tears.
It is a sad but beautiful story that also gives hope. A little girl had a life filled with wonder, but one day something happens that makes her put her heart in a bottle to keep it safe. The wonder is gone...
The description on the cover flaps says "...Oliver Jeffers achieves the remarkable. He deals with the weighty themes of love and loss with an extraordinary lightness of touch and shows us, ultimately, that there is always hope."
Celeste's favourite part of the book is the one in the photo above, with the empty chair. I prefer the one below, towards the end of the book.
"Feeling unsure, the girl thought the best thing was to put her heart in a safe place. Just for the time being."
This was a moving story, with captivating illustrations.
Once we finished reading this title, we both agreed we wanted to check out more books by Oliver Jeffers. We visited his website and put more titles on hold at our public library. The first one that arrived was a fun one: Stuck.
You can see a video of the author reading part of the story. We both loved this book too. It was funny non-sense type story, we really like those!
It's so much fun to discover new authors!
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