Grandad’s Camper by Harry Woodgate
Explain that this book is about loss, the loss of Grandad’s partner, Gramps. Read the blurb first to check how your bereaved child is feeling about their loss and gently ask for their thoughts on why Grandad no longer wants to go on adventures.
Read the review by TLS and explain that this session will focus on their three points: remembered joy, managed grief and renewed delight in living.
Read the book together without stopping unless the child wants you to. You may want to agree a signal they can make which will pause your reading.
KEY QUESTIONS TO ASK AFTER READING THE BOOK:
How does it feel to remember joyful times that you had with your special person?
Is it easy/difficult to ‘manage’ grief? What helps us? There’s an opportunity here to remind each child of their trusted adults in school who they can talk to.
What does ‘renewed delight in living’ mean?
Support your discussion by bookmarking pages which show Grandad’s: 1) remembered joy; 2) managed grief – e.g. talking about feelings of loss, keeping things from their travels, smiling at memories and fixing up Gramps's camper van; and 3) renewed delight in living.
Is it possible to remember joyful times, manage feelings of loss and grief and feel a renewed delight in living at the same time?
The final question is a big one! Make sure that you reassure a bereaved child that how they feel in their grief right now is ok (unless you are concerned about prolonged feelings of grief and an inability to feel anything other than deep sadness – this will need expert support so consider signposting the family to a child bereavement charity or their GP).
ACTIVITY: Making A Map of Remembered Joy
Open the double-page spread in the book which starts, “Everywhere was full of life – there were so many people, so many animals, and so many things to see.” Travel your finger on the dotted line to read the text and explore the illustrations of Grandad’s Map of Remembered Joy – of happy times he spent with Gramps. Explain that this session’s activity is to create our own Map of Remembered Joy by using this page as a template for happy times we spent with our loved one who has died.
Each child will need a piece of A3 paper and drawing materials. Ask them to plan out a map by thinking of 3 happy times spent with the person who has died. If prompts are needed, consider using ideas in the book: a time spent with special people, a time spent together with animals and then a special place that reminds them of their loved one. Make a Map of Remembered Joy by drawing these memories onto the paper. Allow the children time to draw, talk if they choose to or simply enjoy being in the memory of remembered joy as they work. Colour and decorate the ‘maps’ as much as time and creativity will allow 😊
CLOSING THE SESSION:
Turn back to TLS’s review of the book as: “a glowingly colourful journey of remembered joy, managed grief and renewed delight in living.” Celebrate the children’s creations of their own glowingly colourful journeys of remembered joy with their special loved one.
Depending on the children, it may be appropriate and helpful to share Lois Tonkin’s compassionate perspective of growing around grief where circles are drawn in a changing pattern (some show this as eggs, some as a ball in expanding jars) with the message that it is possible, over time, to have space in your life for new experiences, relationships and growth while still living with/honouring the person who has died.