The Purple Balloon

Hopefully, no one but turnberryknkn will ever have need for this book….

The Purple Balloon by Chris Raschka This brief but powerful picture book by Caldecott winner Raschka aims to help terminally ill children. The introductory note explains that when children who know they are dying are in art therapy, they universally draw pictures of a blue or purple balloon floating away. In this book, all the people are pictured as different-colored balloons. First, it talks about how sad it is when old people die, as an old green balloon slowly turns purple and floats away. The only thing sadder is young people dying. Dying is hard work, the book says, but “good help makes dying less hard.” A small balloon surrounded by others also turns purple and floats away.