The Phone Booth in Mr. Hirota's Garden

If you are a regular follower you know I’m having a total love affair with Heather Smith’s writing. From her middle grade to her young adult work and through to her picture books, her writing is inspiring and diverse and equitable. The Phone Booth in Mr. Hirota’s Garden is the latest book to add Heather Smith’s brilliant bibliography. Rachel Wada, who brings the story to life with her gorgeous illustrations combining traditional Japanese art forms and techniques and giving them her own spin, uses a muted colour palette to convey the feeling of loss and sadness. This is the story of a great tsunami that takes Makio’s father and also Mr. Hirota’s daughter. It’s a story of grief and finding comfort in the power of words. Mr. show more Hirota builds a phone booth in his backyard after the tsunami and in it places an old rotary telephone. The telephone is not connected to any wires, it simply sits there as an invitation. Mr. Hirota uses it to speak to his daughter, Makio uses it to speak to his father, hoping their words are carried away on the wind to greet their loved ones who have gone.

Together Heather Smith and Rachel Wada create a story inspired by a man names Itaru Sasaki who built a telephone booth in his yard as a way to grieve his cousin. In this book, children and their loved ones are given another vehicle to work through loss. It could apply to the loss of a family member or even a loss of a pet. I love how Heather Smith embraces the hard topics. She is brave in her writing and she is creating books and stories our children so desperately need. She creates stories where so many people can see themselves reflected in the pages and feel comfort and hopefully feel seen and heard show less

This one broke my heart and then made it warm and fuzzy again. Loss of a loved one is such an individual experience, but once you've gone through it, you can empathize with others who lose a loved one. The idea of a phone booth to connect to a loved one who passed is such a smart idea. It gives you a private place to talk to someone you lost. I imagine holding that receiver to your ear makes it feel more real. I love that this was a real story brought to life and shared in a picture book.
This is my favorite picture book about grief and loss so far.

In order to process his grief, Mr. Hirota build a telephone booth in his back yard after losing his daughter in a tsunami. And, young Makio lost his beloved father. As the story notes, "Everyone lost someone the day the big wave came."

Inside the phone booth is a cordless phone. It isn't connected to anything, but Mr. Hirota and Makio find intense relief by going inside the booth, picking up the phone and talking to their lost loved ones.

The sense of grief is profound, and the sense of relief is in equal measure. While Mr. Hirota visited his phone to nowhere every day, so too others who lost people they loved, feel enveloped by calm when they can talk to those who this lost.

This is a talented writer who has a wonderful imagination. show more Paired with the beautiful illustrated of Rachel Wada this is a book to treasure and keep in my shelf of favorites. show less

I really wish the word "tsunami" had been used instead of "the big wave." That's my only quibble. Very moving, and it addresses community-wide grief which I don't think I've ever seen a picture book address before.

Library copy

Exceptionally beautiful illustrations. Wonderful use of perspective.

disaster, grief, and healing.
For teens and older