What Happens After? by Diane Namm & Laura Jager

I really needed to read this terrific book, on the heels of Lauren Munoz’ absolutely devastating (to me) YA mystery Very Dangerous Things, which triggered yet another round of grief over a long-ago loss that I’m still trying to grapple with.

The nice thing about What Happens After? is that it doesn’t try to dive into rhetoricals of what happens to the person who leaves us. Everyone’s got their own ideas of the afterlife, and this book is not at all interested in litigating any of that. Instead, this thoughtful, tender children’s picture book discusses what happens to us survivors in the wake of loss, and how we can keep going while still honoring and loving the ones who’ve passed away.

(I may or may not be tearing up while writing this. It has been a weird and hard few weeks of it, y’all.)

The prose is simple and matter-of-fact. Diane Namm confronts loss head-on, never shying away from the inevitability of death and its attendant grief. She acknowledges how hard it can be for those left behind, and that it sometimes takes a really, really long time for things to stop feeling so hard. But then she does something beautiful by talking about how we can remember our gone-away loved ones still, and how we can continue living with the joy of their memories in our hearts.

None of this is written in a falsely cheerful or prescriptive or, worse, “get over it” tone. Instead, it’s laid out in a way that accepts grief and healing and even joy in the wake of loss as natural parts of life. Readers are encouraged to feel their feelings. Love and happiness and sorrow are all normal, even in rapid succession and in dizzying permutations.

Laura Jager’s art is so perfect for this. The second full-page spread absolutely wrecked me in its gentle symbolism, a theme she continues throughout. Her colors are bright without being loud: a perfect representation of hope and normalcy that promises that life does indeed go on, in the best ways possible.

I had the privilege of reviewing Tomie dePaola & Barbara McClintock’s Where Are You Bronte? earlier this year, and firmly believe that WHA should be placed next to it as another instant classic on helping children (and even older readers) deal with grief. Both books are outstanding. Honestly, I’m so wrung out just talking about these books now, I need another nap, which is testament both to their impact and capacity to help heal.

What Happens After? by Diane Namm & Laura Jager was published November 24 2024 by Diane Namm LLC and is available from all good booksellers, including