A sensitive picture book about grief, enduring love and the treasure of memory — for children and adults.
The article introduces Sternleins Reise, a picture book for families whose children had to leave earthly life far too early. The book presents the “star child” as a small angel who wakes its beloved mother in the night and gently tells her, in comforting rhymes, about its journey.
The promise that the child will shine forever as a star in the sky is meant to give courage and strength for life with the memory of the star child. Martina Hosse-Dolega describes books as “heart-openers”: places of refuge, sources of strength and comfort that do not merely console superficially, but create space to feel grief carefully.
The illustrations were created by Sabine Marie Körfgen, whose close collaboration with the author helped make the book a heartfelt work. Hosse-Dolega hopes the book will open a world that may remain hidden from the eyes but not from the heart.
