Quinn is a young and innocent little owl living with her mom and dad. One day an injured firefly is discovered in the nest. Quinn and her mother nurse the firefly back to good health. Thinking the firefly to be Her new long term friend, Quinn names it Blink. But one morning Blink has left the nest to be with its own family, and Quinn is devastated. At this point mom brings God into the discussion pointing out that God doesn’t aways stop bad things from happening in our lives. Mom and Quinn pray. I felt Quinn’s prayer was too mature for the way Quinn was portrayed in the story.
I think the book can be a tool to use when explaining loss and grief in a religious way. It does seem to be a bit wordy for the audience the book is directed toward.
I really liked the illustrations and the peacefulness of the text.

Looking for a way to talk to your children about loss and help them walk through goodbyes? Quinn Says Goodbye by Christie Thomas is the perfect jumping off point. It's not an overly complicated story line, but it's one that younger children will certainly identify with. And the illustrations are super cute. At the end of the book, Thomas gives parents some tips and ideas for ways to engage children in conversations and help them to process loss and learn how to say goodbyes in healthy ways. Kuddos to Thomas for a great resource to help parents and kids connect over real-life issues. I highly recommend this one!

Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for this honest review. The opinions expressed are my own.

This book was given to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A lovely book which helps to explain to children the nature of loss and how this fits into our relationship with God.

Gorgeous illustrations. I'd recommend this book for children from 3 - 7, to be read with a parent. It has a useful section at the back about how to discuss the book's themes with your child (and an interesting section about fireflies!).

Quinn finds a lightning bug that is injured. She helps nurse the bug back to health and then watches over the bug. When the bug, Blink, leaves Quinn and her family, Quinn doesn't understand and tries to find the bug. She asks why God would take away something she loves so much.

This book has beautiful illustrations and a wonderful concept. It felt rushed at times and I think children over 5/6 would notice that. For example, the connection between Blink and Quinn is really not established. If there was more time given to a building friendship, there would be greater sorrow when Blink goes away.
The "Did You Know.." at the end is a great idea - children love finding out new facts. I also enjoyed the Note to Parents with the devotional-style questions. This provides the Christian family with a greater depth to the story.

I’m not really sure about this book. The topic is an important one but I’m not sure that this is the way to teach young children about loss and grief. It seems like the connection between the story and the hopeful lesson was little too symbolic, and the author felt the need to spell it out at the very end. In my opinion, it wasn’t a clear enough book for young children while being extremely sad at the same time.
There was one more issue. [SPOILER]The main issue, of the death of a loved one, is rather danced around. The heroine rescues and befriends a bug that quickly becomes her pet. Then one day the pet is just gone. We never do learn what happened to him. She learns to handle her grief, but it has a very unsettled feeling at the end. [END of SPOILER] I think that is what I disliked the most.
This book was provided as a free ARC through NetGalley and Harvest House Publishers. No favorable review was required. These are my honest opinions.

The illustrations in this book were beautiful but I didn't like the message this book was conveying. I felt it dealt with grief in the wrong way, I have read books that handled grief and losing someone you love a lot better.

The illustrations are beautiful and I like the fact it’s trying to deal with grief and loss, but didn’t like its approach or handling of it at all.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Oh, I was dreading this book, but It was a needless dread. Quinn the owl finds an injured firefly in the owl home and helps to care for it. Quinn believes he and the firefly are friends, but one day, of course, the firefly leaves. I assumed, from the title it might be about death, thankfully, no. But it does deal with loss, so it's a good title, and can be used to help a small child deal with losing a pet, or loved one, even a pet insect. Nice story. I liked the illustrations, soothing colors and drawings.

A good story. Good narration and illustrations.

We relocated to another place and my son missed his friends so much. Found this title at the right time.

I loved the illustrations, they were wonderfully done. The book was a little wordy to keep my 2 and 4 year olds attention, maybe cut out a few of the earlier pages to help keep littles interested.