The Laugh
Age 3+
Picture Books Family & Home Stories Personal & Social Issues: Death & Bereavement
An uplifting picture book story about love, laughter, and loss
Once there was a lady with the loveliest laugh in the world. She and her daughter share big loud belly laughs, quiet giggles, and sometimes secret laughs between just the two of them. Until one day, the lady dies, and her laugh goes away with her. At first it seems impossible to go on without the lady – but when the little girl finds her laugh again, she knows that, no matter what, the memories and love that they shared will always be there. This reassuring and beautifully illustrated picture book is the perfect way to open up conversations about grief and loss with little ones.
Creators
Fay Evans has been selling, writing and making children’s books for eleven years. She has worked across fiction, non-fiction and picture books and currently works as an acquisitions editor at DK. Originally from South Wales, she accidentally married an Englishman and now lives in South London.
Ayse Klinge was born and raised in Berlin, Germany. She studied stage and costume design before moving to Hamburg, where she studies illustration at the University of Applied Sciences and works as a freelance illustrator. Her love for the theatre and the opera persists where she spends most of her free time reading books and discovering obscure films in her hometown in Berlin.
Reviews
Tender, delicate and joyful. A story of loss, illustrated and told with real emotion.
Simply yet powerfully told, The Laugh is a beautiful, gentle story with tender and expressive illustrations, and a comforting message about the ways we hold loved ones close even when they’re no longer with us. It’s a book that will surely mean a lot to many children, families and adults alike.
It’s very heartfelt. It’s very difficult to make an honest book about death. It has to be honest. I think the tone is perfect. It talks honestly about death and at the same time it celebrates life. It provides comfort that life will improve without in any way diminishing the loss.
A beautiful and personally relatable book with the most powerful and inspirational message about working through grief and how we never really lose the ones we love.
