Title: Always Sisters: A Story of Loss and Love

Author: Saira Mir

Illustrator: Shahrzad Maydani

Publisher/Year: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers/2023

Favorite Line from the Book: She’s not here yet, but she’s already my little sunshine.

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With so much heartbreaking news in the world right now, I was hesitant about posting this review because this book’s topic is, to put it simply, sad. But October is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, and, if just one person who has experienced the grief of pregnancy loss finds comfort and healing in the message shared by author Saira Mir and illustrator Shahrzad Maydani in the pages of Always Sisters: A Story of Loss and Love, then it’s worth spreading the word here on Frog on a Blog about such a powerful picture book.

Always Sisters: A Story of Loss and Love, published August 22, 2023, by Simon & Schuster, is about a little girl named Raya who can barely contain her excitement that she will soon have a baby sister. She knows that they will be best friends and have so much fun together running, playing, laughing, eating chocolate ice cream, and watching their favorite cartoons. Raya tells all her schoolmates about her baby sister, though she’s not yet born. She even says she doesn’t need a birthday gift this year because her little sister, whom she calls Nura, will be her gift. But happiness and anticipation soon turn to sadness and confusion when she’s told Nura won’t be coming after all. Raya learns to handle her grief through expressions of love for Nura, like drawing pictures, talking with her family and kids at school, and helping her parents plant a magnolia tree on the day that would have been Nura’s birthday, a tree that will help them all remember how Nura would have grown.

Shahrzad Maydani’s soft colored illustrations, rendered in chalk pastels and watercolors, have a hazy, dream-like, quality about them, almost as if the whole story is made of memories, which I think is a good choice for such a heavy topic.

Grief is universal, felt by everyone who loses a loved one, but young children often have a difficult time processing it. Always Sisters: A Story of Loss and Love can help kids manage such a weighty emotion in a sensitive way, especially if shared in a safe environment with family or counselors. In an author’s note at the end of the book, Saira Mir speaks about her and her family’s own experience with the loss of a baby. She says, “Talking about sad feelings isn’t easy, but sharing what’s in your heart can help you feel better.”