Anna's Corn

This beautifully written story and illustrations warmed my heart and brought me to tears over and over alone and with my children. My father, a farmer from Central Illinois, died this last February. He had a poem at his funeral that said to not cry but look for him in the snow and the fields and the wind. The glint in the snow this week has been my reminder of him and then this book is given to me as a gift this first hard holiday season. God knew. Thanks!

This is a beautiful story with a reassuring message, poetically stated, without hitting the reader over the head.The basic plot is this: Anna and her grandfather have a close, loving relationship. When he dies, she grieves. She fears she has lost him forever. But in carrying out a promise she made to him before his death, she finds her grandfather again, in the things he taught her.This is an autumn story-- it begins and ends in fall-- and the cycle of the seasons mirrors Anna's grieving process. The illustrations are soft and tender.I told this story to a multi-generational group; the children were attentive, and the adults were moved.This book would be useful for a family anticipating the death of a grandparent, as well as for those grieving a death.