I was immediately drawn to this book on NetGalley by the gorgeous cover of The Thing and the girl on the roof.

A warm and compassionate story of understanding the impermanence of things and attachments.

A girl befriends The Thing at 52 and becomes very attached to Thing, they grow together as friends and chosen family with the girl’s mum also part of this family.

They share all kinds of big and small adventures together, and when the girl realises that there are more Things in the world she helps to get them together to form a supportive community.

There is a realisation quite early on that all Thing’s must go at sometime and no one knows where to, and eventually The Thing at 52 goes.

The story then goes on to show that with resilience and support we can hold on to the memories of the Thing but also grow new memories of the people and Things that fill the space where they used to be.

I absolutely loved the illustrations from Richard Johnson, fun and full of warmth and compassion they go hand in hand with the text in a brilliantly supportive manner, in fact you could tell the story with the pictures and no words they were that good.

A great book to get talks about loss and growth from loss.

Thanks for the book NetGalley!