Heather Smith (1) (1968–)

If you are a regular follower you know I’m having a total love affair with Heather Smith’s writing. From her middle grade to her young adult work and through to her picture books, her writing is inspiring and diverse and equitable. The Phone Booth in Mr. Hirota’s Garden is the latest book to add Heather Smith’s brilliant bibliography. Rachel Wada, who brings the story to life with her gorgeous illustrations combining traditional Japanese art forms and techniques and giving them her own spin, uses a muted colour palette to convey the feeling of loss and sadness. This is the story of a great tsunami that takes Makio’s father and also Mr. Hirota’s daughter. It’s a story of grief and finding comfort in the power of words. Mr. Hirota builds a phone booth in his backyard after the tsunami and in it places an old rotary telephone. The telephone is not connected to any wires, it simply sits there as an invitation. Mr. Hirota uses it to speak to his daughter, Makio uses it to speak to his father, hoping their words are carried away on the wind to greet their loved ones who have gone.

Together Heather Smith and Rachel Wada create a story inspired by a man names Itaru Sasaki who built a telephone booth in his yard as a way to grieve his cousin. In this book, children and their loved ones are given another vehicle to work through loss. It could apply to the loss of a family member or even a loss of a pet. I love how Heather Smith embraces the hard topics. She is brave in her writing and she is creating books and stories our children so desperately need. She creates stories where so many people can see themselves reflected in the pages and feel comfort and hopefully feel seen and heard… (mais)