A Very Special Book
TW: grief related to death and loss
I’ve been very privileged to again work with the lovely Dani Seatter on her sustainably-produced books for children. Away and Oceans Away were centred on educating very young children about our impact on the earth, a subject close to Dani’s heart (she is also the owner of the sustainability and slow living brand Eco-Able) - but her newest book draws from an even more personal theme.
I won’t share any details of the losses that Dani has experienced, but it is safe to say she has endured enormous pain and grief in the past few years. As a former early years educator, she was also acutely aware of how many young children are faced with similar struggles, made harder sometimes by a lack of understanding about the nature of loss and the difficulties of for the adults in their lives in finding ways to communicate.
Dani’s newest book - About Hedgehog - uses the familiar characters from Away to provide a gentle story to enable both children and parents, as well as early years practitioners and therapists, to begin to have those all important conversations around death and what that means. Whether it is a family member or a beloved pet, the book provides a safe way to explore the feelings of grief.
It was very important to me to create a feeling of nurture and softness in the illustrations for About Hedgehog, whilst balancing Dani’s signature monochrome palette. Grief has darkness, but it was essential that the illustrations did not appear too dark.
Luckily, Dani and I had worked extensively on character design in the process of making Away, and we already had these little woodland friends to work with. After laying down simple sketches for layout (like the one above), I spent a lot of time blending, softening, lightening and smudging to get the balance just right. Dani requested that only a couple of pages have the familiar dark woods, with the overruling mood being light and hope.
I am so grateful to Dani for trusting me to help bring this book to life. As always, we worked with the wonderful Tash Willmore of Culpepper & Co - who is a wellspring of creative magic - and Andy Siddall’s brilliant team at Tewkesbury Printing, who use only recycled 100% carbon balanced paper as certified by the World Land Trust and without plastic lamination to produce Dani’s book series.
Dani has also sought the advice of Dr Shelley Gilbert MBE, founder of Grief Encounter, a national childhood bereavement charity, who will receive a percentage from the sales of the book.
To read more about the book, or to purchase direct from Dani, you can find more info here.
Thanks for reading <3
Anna
🩶