{"id":30217,"date":"2025-05-12T08:40:34","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T14:40:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/?p=30217"},"modified":"2025-05-12T08:40:34","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T14:40:34","slug":"little-bear-and-the-big-hole-by-jennifer-seal-author-mirjam-siim-illustrator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/?p=30217","title":{"rendered":"Little Bear and the Big Hole by Jennifer Seal (Author), Mirjam Siim (Illustrator)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A quiet, achingly powerful story of loss, recovery, and the comfort of simply being there.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grief is a big hole. At least, that\u2019s how it feels for Little Bear, whose Papa Bear has died, leaving behind a vast, invisible absence \u201cfull of everything that wasn\u2019t any longer.\u201d Other animals don\u2019t see it. They walk right over it. But Little Bear can\u2019t. \u201cMaybe only I can see it,\u201d he wonders, sitting alone with his sorrow. Enter Squirrel, a gentle presence who doesn\u2019t offer advice or distractions, just a quiet acknowledgement: \u201cI can see the hole.\u201d She\u2019s been there too, she says, when her sister died. \u201cSometimes I was angry, so I yelled into it,\u201d she tells him. \u201cSometimes I was sad, so I cried over it.\u201d They sit side by side, two small figures next to a vast, wordless ache. And somehow, over time and with crayons, music, and shared silence, the hole begins to shrink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seal\u2019s language is spare but layered with meaning, making space for complex feelings without overwhelming young readers. The transformation isn\u2019t immediate or magical. The hole never vanishes in a puff of light. Instead, it grows smaller as Little Bear engages with it. He draws pictures and writes letters. He sobs. He sings. And when the tree finally grows in the hole\u2019s place (green, tender, rooted in memory), it feels entirely earned. Mirjam Siim\u2019s soft watercolor illustrations echo this emotional arc with remarkable subtlety. From muted gray-blues and emptiness to warm greens and soft sunlight, her visual storytelling tracks the slow thaw of grief with grace and quiet assurance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book doesn\u2019t shy away from the hardest things: loneliness, longing, and the fact that not everything broken can be put back the way it was. But in its place, something else might grow. Something beautiful. Squirrel never tells Little Bear to be strong. She doesn\u2019t try to distract him or cheer him up. She just sits. And in doing so, she models the kind of presence children need when they\u2019re grieving: patient, honest, and willing to be there in the dark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teachers and caregivers will find Little Bear and the Big Hole an invaluable tool for supporting children through bereavement, particularly those dealing with the death of a parent or close loved one. The book also teaches children what it means to feel deeply, to hurt, to heal, and to be seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A poetic and emotionally resonant reflection on loss that gently affirms: some holes don\u2019t disappear, they transform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Buy now<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pub date April 4, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starfish Bay Children’s Books<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ISBN 978-1760362324<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Price $18.47 (USD) Hardcover<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pages 32 (Hardcover)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading age 4-8<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grade level Kindergarten-3<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A quiet, achingly powerful story of loss, recovery, and the comfort of simply being there. Grief is a big hole. At least, that\u2019s how it feels for Little Bear, whose Papa Bear has died, leaving behind a vast, invisible absence \u201cfull of everything that wasn\u2019t any longer.\u201d Other animals don\u2019t see it. They walk right over it. But Little Bear can\u2019t. \u201cMaybe only I can see it,\u201d he wonders, sitting alone with his sorrow. Enter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145610851,"featured_media":30214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[],"tags":[7223,91,723770854,3328,178,706279332,723770834,723770853,258082,1136176,15653,1473,1008073,856121,309,349],"class_list":["post-30217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-author","tag-blogging","tag-board-books","tag-book-reviews","tag-books","tag-childrens-pcture-books","tag-childrens-animal-books","tag-childrens-books-about-grief","tag-childrens-fiction","tag-indie-books","tag-picture-books","tag-reading","tag-review-blog","tag-review-website","tag-reviews","tag-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/little-bear.jpg?fit=339%2C445&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pajKJn-7Rn","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/145610851"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30217"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30219,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30217\/revisions\/30219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}