Sweet, a little sad, and wonderful illustrations -- simple, but with yummy textures. ( )

A great one for dealing with loss. Everything is handled gently and with sensitivity. Charming illustrations. Get out your tissues. ( )

A heartfelt story about a young beaver and his mother. Buckley walks the shore regularly and finds driftwood to make boats. Buckley creates them for his father who is away. Buckley believes that his father has received them because they do not comeback. But later in the story the reader finds out that his mother has been collecting them and storing them. He is sad but discovers that his mother was only trying to help him understand that his father is not coming back. In the end Buckley and mom share a moment. The illustrator takes us to the beach with watercolor drawings with blues and beiges. The reader can hear the sound of the ocean. A good read for a counselor or school teacher to help children cope with grief or loss of a loved one. ( )

Boats for Papa is a touching story about Buckley and his mama who live on the beach. Buckley's papa is gone, which makes Buckley miss him, so he makes boats out of driftwood and sends them out onto the beach in hopes that his papa will receive them wherever he is. Buckley eventually finds all his boats that he sent out at home and realized none of them had made it out to sea. He then changes his note to address the boat to his mama so that when he sent the last one out it was addressed to her instead. The theme of this book is coping with the loss of a parent and the process of moving on. In the classroom, a discussion about loss of a loved one could possibly take place, or possible ways to cope with a loss.

This is an amazing story about how the ambiguous loss of a loved one can be transformed into a positive experience. ( )