The Smile

Two children travel across the country with their mother to visit their grandfather before he dies. The little girls watch the bustling adults around them, play with their grandfather for the last time, and discover their own way to understand the death of a loved one. Barbara Sprenger wrote The Smile thirty years ago, as she and her daughters, aged 4 and 6, stayed with the girls' grandparents through Grandpa's final illness, talking and playing their way through it.

The Smile is beautifully illustrated by Roz Alley for children 3 - 12, helping adults deal with a difficult subject with humor and warmth.