Product Description
Matthew is looking forward to the new baby. He is planning how he will help with looking after his little brother or sister and the games they will play when the baby is older. Then there is sad news. The doctor tells Matthew's parents that the baby is not growing properly inside its mother and will not be able to live after it is born. Written by the author to help her own son cope with the death of their new baby at birth, All Shining in the Spring is a child-centred, simply-written book. It is intended to give a child a clear and sympathetic understanding of the death of a baby, be it a family member or not, and to deal with the feelings and questions which such a death raises. The book can be read to or by a child and would be ideal in a family situation, in schools, for carers, social workers and maternity hospitals.
About the Author
Having grown up in Galway and Donegal, Siobhan Parkinson has lived most of her adult life in her native Dublin. She studied English literature and German at Trinity, and went on to take her doctorate in English literature. She has worked for many years as an editor, a profession that very closely resembles that of writing. She concentrates more on her writing these days, but is also a very active member of the writers-in-schools scheme, and she gives workshops in creative writing and talks on her work in all sorts of situations. She has held various writing residencies and she is currently co-editor of Inis -- The Children's Books Ireland Magazine. Her books have won numerous awards and been translated into lots of languages, her favourites being Latvian, because it is so different, and Japanese, because it is back to front. Apart from reading and writing, she is very fond of eating and sleeping. Her favourite place is bed. Obviously, she is not a cross-channel swimmer. She is a big fan of the Great Indoors, including crackling fires, warm rugs and lots of candles. Her ambition is to be old, so that she can sit in a chair all day and eat chocolate and nobody can expect her to go out to work. Her husband, Roger Bennett, is a woodturner and teacher, and her son Matthew is almost grown up. Being her son didn't do him too much harm, he claims, but time will tell. Her first two books, The Dublin Adventure and The Country Adventure, were aimed at the 6-9 age group and were very well received. Her third book for the same age group was has been described as 'a great comedy romance' and tells the story of two parallel love triangles between twin sisters and a foreigner, set thousands of years apart.
