Hazelnut Days

Children face troubles in our world today. Everything isn't bunnies and puppies. Sadly. Children need books that help them know that other people have troubles, and that other people can face them and deal with them. This book helps children face their troubles and find ways of dealing with them.

The boy in Hazelnut Days has a father in prison, and there are parts of the boy's father that the boy loves and there are parts he finds difficult. The boy is trying to reconcile this in his mind. It's hard for a little boy to do this. Stories help, I think.

This is a poetic story, with lovely illustrations, and it takes on ideas that are big and hard and somehow stays with truth, even when it is hard.