Grace and Mr Mulligan by Caz Goodwin, illustrated by Pip Kruger

Title: Grace and Mr Mulligan

Author: Caz Goodwin, illustrated by Pip Kruger

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Children

Published: 1^st January 2023

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 32

Price: $15.99

Synopsis: A sensitive and endearing story about a little girl who helps her best friend overcome his sadness after losing his beloved pet. Grace lives next door to old Mr Milligan and his goat Charlie. They are the best of friends. But when Mr Milligan’s beloved goat dies, everything changes. Will Grace be able to help her friend overcome his sadness? Grace and Mr Milligan is a heart-warming story of grief, love and the healing power of friendship.  

Key selling points:

• Story deals with the delicate subject of losing a loved one in a gentle accessible way.
• Bright, beautiful, and sensitive illustrations will engage the reader while exploring a difficult topic.
• Helps children understand and develop empathy for others going through the grieving process.
• Provides a platform to discuss and navigate death, grief, and saying goodbye.
• Explores the themes of loss, change, and the passage of time while remaining hopeful.

~*~

Grace is best friends with her neighbour, Mr Mulligan, and his goat Charlie. They’re always having fun together, and going on picnics, where they share all their food. That is, until Charlie gets too old and too sick, and the vet can’t help him. After Charlie dies, Mr Mulligan doesn’t want to see anyone and is very sad – but Grace is determined to help him smile again – and she will try everything she can to help him through his grief.

Caz Goodwin’s books are filled with characters who help each other in different ways and reflect on the big issues in the world in ways that children and younger readers can access. They allow space for big feelings to be discussed safely and for issues that might affect people in the child’s life to be talked about and understood through the eyes and perspective of young people who might not understand everything going on but who want to and want to help, like Grace. I think this is a good way to allow children to understand issues like grief because they can relate to losing a pet or an elderly family member, or having someone they know be very sad.

Another think I like about this book is that it is colourful and shows that the colour doesn’t leave life when you are grieving – it might feel like it has gone away, but it is always there and waiting for you when you need it or want to see it again. The pages are lively and joyful whilst also having a gravitas about them when it comes to grief and the different ways we all process it and get through it – it is different for everyone and what this book does is show how it can affect people and how you can help those going through grief, which I think is very powerful and evocative. Understanding grief and how it affects people, and how you might be affected if you haven’t felt grief yet is important and helps to create empathy for others in the world, and that’s where I think this book will be a good tool for children in home and education settings, so they can come to understand what might make people sad.

And the essence of hope that runs throughout the story and the beautiful images is brilliantly rendered as well. The rhythm of the words and the repetition against the bright images is indeed a contrast once the goat dies, but never wavers from the hopeful nature of Grace and her persistence to help Mr Mulligan through his grief and show him that he can still smile and remember his friend through the things they all loved to do together.