The Other Side of the Garden

A young girl learns to cope with her grandmother’s death when she discovers memories can help keep loved ones alive in this powerful picture book from Afro-Dominican storyteller Sili Recio and her daughter Elena.

A young girl and her mother visit her grandmother’s old garden, but things are different. A fence stands between them and Abuela’s old blue house, and when the young girl calls out to her, Abuela no longer answers.

With each visit to the garden, it becomes clear that Abuela won’t be coming back. All that’s left are memories of picking flowers, dancing in the wind, and running into Abuela’s warm embrace. Author Sili Recio and her daughter, Elena, draw on Elena’s own grief journey after her abuela’s passing to help young readers not only navigate loss, but also recognize that remembering loved ones who’ve gone means they never really leave us.