Frankie discovers that beautiful things can be made from broken pieces, in this sensitive and hopeful story about family separation.
One day, Mama’s vase breaks, and everything changes. All of a sudden, Frankie’s Dad doesn’t live at home anymore, and Nan has come to stay for a while. Frankie’s life has broken apart just like the vase, and she feels upset and lost. Then Nan has an idea…
Full of expressive, colourful illustrations, The Mosaic is an optimistic story about parental separation and the healing power of art. Little readers will delight in following Nan and Frankie as they go on an adventure and find an unexpected source of hope and inspiration. They will see that while some changes can feel sad and overwhelming at first, they can also lead to happiness if we know where to look.
Children all over the world are impacted by parental divorce and separation. The Mosaic offers a fresh perspective, focussing on the good that can come from change and giving children comfort in a time of grief and uncertainty. Inspired by the author’s conversations with her own children, it is a uniquely personal story that will help any children going through difficult changes to find hope, resilience and joy.
Deborah Kelly is the author of several popular picture books for children as well as junior fiction, middle grade and young adult titles. She also writes Haiku poetry, inspired by living in Japan for two years. Born in New Zealand, Deb now lives in Australia with her two children.
Nicky Johnston is an illustrator, teacher and presenter who aims to inspire young children to use their imagination.
Reading Time
“This is a gentle story with a strong message of resilience, hope and love. Beautifully illustrated with each character’s expressions conveying changing emotions from sadness to wonder to optimism.”
Midwest Book Review
“Children all over the world are impacted by parental divorce and separation. The Mosaic offers a fresh perspective, focusing on the good that can come from change and giving children comfort in a time of grief and uncertainty.”
Story Links
“This is an optimistic story. Frankie’s life has fallen apart just like the vase, but the mosaic offers a fresh perspective of a new family dynamic that grows out of the broken pieces. There are so many children affected by parent separation and divorce that I feel a book like this is a valuable resource for 4- to 8-year-old and can also be a new perspective for the separated parents.”
Get Kids Booked -via Instagram
“The gentle and colourful illustrations pair beautifully with the child-centred text. It deals with parental separation in a way that is comforting, and encourages resilience and positivity in such difficult situations..”
The Bottom Self
“This is a sensitive, original story that offers (readers) hope as they come to realise that while things are shattered, they can be put back together again, although it will be a new thing and it will take time for the arrangement to work out and the glue to dry”
The Corner on Character, blog review
“Use it not only with someone going through family separations and divorce, but also through other changes, like moves, an illness, a new job. Check out this hope-filled newcomer; I think it’ll capture your heart like it has mine.”
Books+Publishing
“The Mosaic explores emotional resilience and connects it to the power that art has to express and make sense of our world and ultimately bring about healing.”
Booklist
“In a picture book with winsome art, the narrative sensitively portrays family troubles as they impact a young child. The illustrations acknowledge Frankie’s father’s departure, but the story revolves around her reactions to the broken vase, her memories of happy times with family members, and her growing recognition that what initially seems sad might become a reliable, reassuring new normal.”
Buzz Words Magazine
“Deborah Kelly’s moving metaphor comparing a shattered family to a mosaic will bring comfort to children aged four to eight who are coming to terms with parental separation. The Mosaic reassures readers that every family is perfect in its own way – even if the people have been rearranged into a new reality. Sometimes, when a fractured life imitates art, something precious is created with the pieces.”
Kids’ Book Review
“Addresses family dynamics, coping with change, and of course creativity and art. Finding the beauty of life within its wrappings of discomfort and discord is not easy for the best of us, let alone children grappling with disruptions to their normal. The Mosaic helps us find and appreciate that beauty in a myriad of joy-filled ways..”
Kat BookWorm (via Instagram)
“This is an important, powerful book and vital tool to explain separation to young children.“
Middle Grade Mavens podcast
“Deb has taken this very delicate topic of separation or divorce and written a beautiful, poignant, and hopeful story/ Nicky has layered it with her gorgeous illustrations. The whole thing just speaks to healing and finding a new normal and the beauty that can come from change”