Recommended children's booklists sorted by age or topic

Home > Books > When Sadness Comes to Call

When Sadness Comes to Call

Book Synopsis

Winner of the Klaus Flugge Prize 2020 and the V&A Book Cover Award 2020! When Sadness arrives, try not to be afraid: give it a name, listen to it and spend some time together. Maybe all it wants is to know that it’s welcome. This beautiful debut by author-illustrator talent Eva Eland takes a poignant but uplifting look at dealing with sadness.

Our Review Panel says...

The book sees a young child opening the door to an unexpected visitor, Sadness, personified as a semi-transparent amorphous shape. As the two spend time together, the child comes to know and understand Sadness, and then one day wakes up to find the visitor has left. Judge and winner of the 2019 Klaus Flugge Prize, Jessica Love says: “This book is profound in its simplicity. There isn’t a single line that Eva Eland puts down that doesn’t tell the truth…”