Glenda Millard

Griffin Silk has a secret in his heart, that nobody else knows until he meets Layla, a princess with a daisy-chain crown and he shares his inner thoughts with her. Together they find a way to deal with Griffin's secret. Suggested level: primary, intermediate.

The Naming of Tishkin Silk

Katie Day

** spoiler alert **
           An uncommon boy, born on Feb. 29th and now 8 years old, named Griffin Silk grieves for his absent mother and baby sister, though his loving father, grandmother, and older sisters are there in abundance. Due to his mother's absence, he can no longer be home-schooled and must attend the local public one. He is lucky to be befriended by Layla, who gives him the courage to share his grief with her -- grief over the baby sister who died in her cot during the night before she could reach the age of one when Silk children are officially named in the Naming Ceremony. Layla and Griffin arrange for the baby's Naming Ceremony to take place on her one-year birthday and invite Griffin's mother (in a hospital or institution somewhere) to attend. She arrives on the day, spurred back to her family again by Griffin's invitation (and a note from Layla). The name Griffin has heard whispered in the trees becomes his sister's name -- Tishkin. (Hard not to cry at the end...)

A short novel - with large spacing between the lines. Good for a read-aloud?

I had a family recently come looking for a book about cot death (as a baby cousin had died at two years old of the swine flu) -- and had no books to recommend. Here is one...

The Naming of Tishkin Silk

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