John Dougherty (2) (1964–)

This is a beautiful tale of friendship, love, and loss. Bertie the hare and Hertle the turtle are good friends. One day, Bertie looks for Hertle, but he has gone.

His absence leaves a hole in his heart. His other friends notice Betie's grief. The creativity of this book is wonderful. Often, we hear the phrase that someone died and left a hole in your heart. The beautiful illustrations make the phrase true.

Bertie goes through various stages of grief, and is very sad until he finds Gerda the large bear who patiently tells him that there will always be loss, but the hole can be filled with wonderful memories of all they meant to each other and the things they did together.… (more)

Bertle the hare and Hertle the turtle "were utterly buddies, and best friends forever." Then Hertle is just gone leaving "a hole in the air where a hare ought to be." In rhyming text, Bertle goes through the stages of grief until Gerda the bear encourages him to fill the hole with memories of the things he and Hertle did together. Adult guidance when sharing this book can help little ones start to understand their feelings of grief and loss. The book does not specify if Hertle died, moved away, or had a falling out, which makes this a flexible approach to different types of loss.… (more)