Through the Gate by Sally Fawcett (Children's, Picture book, 5 years +, 10E/10E)

 April 2017, EK Books, 32 pages, Hardback, Review copy

Summary from EK Books 

Through the Gate tells the story of a child who has just moved house and is struggling to cope with all the changes in her life. She relates to the dilapidated house she has moved to, as she sits sad and forlorn upon its broken front step.

But, as the story unfolds, the house is gradually repaired paralleling how the child’s perception of her new situation improves. Each time the child passes ‘through the gate’, into the world beyond, she notices more of her surroundings and discovers that her new life has some wonderful things in it.

Within the illustrations is a ‘spot the difference’ game that encourages interaction with the story and develops observation skills. Younger children can be involved in spotting the more obvious changes and older children will be challenged with the more subtle transformations.

Nayu's thoughts 

I know this book is about change and moving to a new house, but for me it feels like it's describing depression. I guess the unnamed girl (maybe that way so readers can easily relate to her and pretend they are her) must have is depressed because of all the change going on in her life. I love how little of the illustrations are coloured at the start of the story, and by each week the girl slowly regains her love of life and the house changes before her, with colour returning. 

It's realistic to how time can help us get through changes, that while we may miss how things were the new thing, whatever it is, has it's own charm and excitement waiting to be discovered. I flipped back to compare her house when she thinks something had changed and it was fun seeing things actually change. Getting used to change is similar to getting better from depression, although there can be setbacks in depression and the girl didn't stumble on her journey at all. 

The final two revelations made me cry as I was that engrossed in the story! The spot the difference part of the book was clever, and added an extra dimension to the story. This enchanting read is going straight to my reread shelf! 

Find out more on Sally's blog. 

Suggested read

A great interactive book on depression is Meh by Deborah Malcolm (Children's, Picture book, 10E/10E) which has an app too! App out now for the book Meh by Deborah Malcolm (Children's, Picture book, 10E/10E)