Ruairí's Rocket to heaven - A Children's Story Book
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ABOUT THE BOOK
Ruairí’s Rocket to heaven is a children’s book written to help families, carers and professionals explore, and navigate the difficult topic of death and bereavement with children from the age of 4+ years old.
It is a story of heartbreak, and hope, and of everlasting love and connection between two brothers. Unfortunately it’s a story that isn’t just my family’s, many young children have to go through this, and it’s my heartfelt hope that this book can provide some guidance, comfort, understanding and hope to other children and their families as they navigate the difficult and complex landscape of grief.
The story is about the life and love between two brothers, Charlie and Ruairí, their time together, and Charlie’s journey navigating life after his brother’s death.
In the first part of the story, it describes a beautiful little boy Ruairí, his life with his older brother Charlie and the things they enjoyed together e.g. playing, bath-time, cuddles and more.
The second part of the story is about Charlie’s journey finding his way in life without his brother as a young boy, learning to understand the big and difficult feelings grief brings such as sadness, anger, confusion and fear, and discovering ways to find comfort in his memories and express his love for his baby brother.
The story was illustrated by Beth Cole. Beth is an amazingly talented, considered and intuitive artist. She illustrated my boys and the emotion inside each memory within the story so beautifully, just how I envisioned. It was an absolute pleasure to work with Beth. You can find her work at instagram.com/herebythewoods
This book is a gem! It can be so incredibly difficult to find books for siblings who experienced the death of a baby and had some time and memories at home before their death. There are several books about pregnancy/infant loss for siblings and even a handful of books on the death of older siblings, but this category can be very difficult to find. So grateful to have this book filling the gap. Highly recommend this book.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I'm Breege, I live in a small village in South West London, with my husband Shane, my energetic and amazing son Charlie, who grounds me in all that is good and right in this world, our goofy dog Rufus and our two cats Freddy and Monkey.
I am also Mom to Ruairí, my beautiful, sweet and oh so fierce little boy. Ruairí devastatingly died in 2018 from a rare and terminal disorder just six weeks after his first birthday.
Ruairí’s life, and his death, have altered my life irrevocably. As I navigate this life, holding my heart and the hearts of my son Charlie and my husband Shane delicately, I am finding a new and different meaning through writing. It’s how I make sense of myself in this world and how I honour and remember my son.
You can find me at instagram.com/storiesforourhearts
As part of my writing I have written Ruairí’s Rocket to heaven. After Ruairí died I turned to books to help his big brother Charlie understand his feelings and I couldn’t find a lot out there to help him. At the same time Charlie was drawing a lot and he drew a picture of his little brother going to heaven in a rocket. That idea inspired me to write this story, the story of the life and everlasting love between two brothers, and Charlie’s journey in life after the death of Ruairí. Initially I wrote the story in the notes app on my phone, and it stayed there for quite a long time. Then in late 2021 the timing felt right to really turn this story that sat on my phone into a real children’s book. With Charlie as editor, and Beth Cole as illustrator we worked on creating what’s now Ruairí’s Rocket to heaven.
The journey of writing and publishing it has been an emotional and cathartic one, it’s one of the most wonderful ways my family and I honour Ruairí’s life and it means so much that our story can help other young children and their families as they navigate their own incredibly difficult times.
Shooting Star Children’s Hospices are a leading children’s hospice charity caring for babies, children and young people with life limiting conditions, and their families. They have provided my family with invaluable bereavement support after Ruairí’s death. It is with much gratitude that the profit from book sales will be donated to this charity for the truly wonderful work they do. I am incredibly thankful to have their support in helping me launch my book, and also incredibly humbled to have their endorsement of my book too.