The Gift: there is tremendous power in small acts of kindness
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The Gift by Michael Speechley is an all around beautiful book that speaks on loss, grief, connection, healing and the beauty that is all around us if we have the courage to look for it.
Rosie is a kind but lonely little girl. She often wonders about the decrepit house across the road and the person who lives there. Like most children she assumes that the occupant is old and cranky.
But Rosie also wonders if the occupant is lonely - Rosie understands lonely, she really misses her mum – and she wants to do something to help.
‘Maybe I could give the old woman a gift?’ thought Rosie.
‘Mum would often give me a gift when I needed cheering up. It was always something different, something unusual, something…surprising.’
And so Rosie decides to give her neighbour a very peculiar gift, one that most people would discard. Although Rosie doesn’t see her neighbour take the gift, the next morning it is displayed in the front window of the old house. So every night Rosie leaves her neighbour a gift, and every day her neighbour cherishes it. This goes on for a year until Rosie decides it’s time to visit her neighbour to present her last, and most precious gift.
Mrs Green is not what Rosie expected and they quickly form a friendship founded on shared grief and budding hope.
The Gift is one of those marvellous read-over-and-over-again stories, one that offers comfort and connection as you snuggle up together. It is wonderful for starting conversations around:
Loss, grief and noticing the needs of others
small acts of kindness and the impact of one life on another
the healing power of time and persistence
seeing the beauty in everything, even the weeds that surround us
The Gift is a wonderful read-it-before-you-need-it book and would make a beautiful gift.
The Gift
by Michael Speechly – Penguin Random House Australia, 2019 ages 3 to 8 years / heartwarmers + imagination
Names in this book – Rosie
