The House in Ollie’s Tummy

The House in Ollie’s Tummy

Larissa Reinboth

Possum Portraits, 2025

32pp., pbk., RRP $A17.99

9781763516700

Little people often have to deal with big feelings – feelings that overwhelm them, that they don’t know how to manage, and because they don’t yet have the language skills to articulate them, can lead to inappropriate behaviours.

So when Ollie’s little sister Millie dies – she was just the size of a loaf of bread – Ollie finds himself facing the worst emotion of all.  Grief.  Mostly, Ollie’s feeling live in a house in his tummy but they don’t stay there for long. Although Grief seems to have taken up permanent residence, it sometimes bounds around like a trapped frog and sometimes lies like a fat slug, not moving for hours. Whatever it’s doing, it’s making Ollie miserable, confused and bewildered.

Is there a way that he can learn to live with this unpredictable visitor who seems to have no intention of moving out?

Grief is a hard enough emotion for any adult to deal with, let alone a young child and while there are many books that help grown-ups help children manage other big emotions, there are few that confront the worst one of all.  So this one, which particularly deals with perinatal death – the period of time  spanning early pregnancy and up to a year after giving birth – is particularly poignant because many of our little ones can relate to the anticipation of welcoming a new sibling but there are few memories to reflect on when times get tough.  Death itself, is an unfamiliar concept, let alone the hollow and confusion it leaves. ( A friend’s young child who lost his dad days before Easter was convinced that he would come back in three days, “like Jesus did”.)

And when parents themselves are dealing with the same emotion, manifesting itself in its own ways for them, it’s even harder for there to be room to help their child.  So with its storyline that sadly will resonate, the book supports both parents and children through this difficult time by providing families with an age-appropriate grief support resource that helps parents to explain and children to understand what happened, including a comprehensive resource section to help parents gain insight and understanding into the cognitive abilities of children between toddler to preschool age in terms of their understanding of death. Helpful tips suggest appropriate wording, phrases and supportive caregiver behaviours. Most importantly, it validates the child’s feelings, normalising grief in whatever form it takes in the moment, helping to make the abstract more tangible and helping them understand that different people will experience different things.  There is no one way and no right way to deal with death – and various cultures have varying beliefs and rituals – each manifestation is okay as each moves through  and among the denial, anger, guilt, bargaining, depression and acceptance that are acknowledged as the key indicators of the emotion.

Best used with an adult to share and explain the story, this is one that will not only support the child but also offer insight for the adult.  Perhaps more for the teacher’s or counsellor’s toolkit rather than the general collection.  

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