Goodbye, Balloon

"No one should wait for a child to experience loss before sharing this wise, gentle book." - Kirkus ReviewsLetting go and loss can be difficult to comprehend. Goodbye Balloon will help you understand these emotions and give you insights to deal with them. Where does a special balloon go when it slips out of your hands? You can’t stop it, but you can wish it a beautiful journey, gliding past birds and soaring over mountains. Maybe your balloon will fly to someone else so that they can have a happy day. A beautifully illustrated picture book about learning to let go. For children ages 5 years and up. Part of the Healthy Minds series, where Adam Ciccio examines daily obstacles and the mental health of young children. Through a familiar story and helpful tips, which the author draws from his own experiences as an outpatient mental health practitioner, children and adults gain insight into what goes on in young minds and are given tools to help them cope with difficult situations.

"When a child’s beloved balloon is whipped away by a gust of wind, the youngster reveals an intriguing coping mechanism. In this tale translated from Dutch, the light-skinned, brown-haired narrator, who is barefoot and wears a simple ochre tunic, declares that the balloon makes them happy—it even feels magical. So readers understand the child’s feelings when the pale, reddish balloon—formerly tied to the child’s bicycle—sails out of reach. After shouting goodbye and wishing the balloon a “fantastic adventure,” the child closes their eyes and imagines themself soaring with the balloon, so high that “the kites must be jealous.” In a series of whimsical scenes, child and balloon travel over mountains and a lake, through a desert, and into outer space. Especially exhilarating: a moment when the youngster flies with pink flamingos. When menacing weather arises, the child says, “My balloon and I are brave. Flying out of the darkness I feel proud.” The captivating watercolor and colored pencil artwork—even more interesting because the textured paper shows beneath—brings the protagonist’s fantasies to life. The careful wording and lovely ending—in which the narrator pictures the balloon finding a new friend, a brown-skinned girl—evoke the best of guided imagery meditation and will speak to young readers coping with sorrow. No one should wait for a child to experience loss before sharing this wise, gentle book. Well-played grief counseling." - Kirkus ReviewsFeatured on The Children's Book Council's March Hot Off the Press!

Adam Ciccio is an American author of several children’s picture books, including Anxious Andy, Macie’s Mirror, The Boy in the Orange Cape, A Beary Rainy Day, Maybe I’ll Be, Climb a Giraffe, Go Out and Play, and more. Adam Ciccio is the author of the picture book series, Healthy Minds. The Healthy Minds picture books focus on mental health concerns in emotional development and social-emotional growth. Adam Ciccio’s 2021 book, The Boy in the Orange Cape, was chosen as a finalist for the Kids’ Book Choice Awards for “Best Illustrated Character.” Adam Ciccio’s treatment model and specialty focuses on educating children on social/emotional development stages and providing skills of self-awareness, patience, and autonomy, resulting in more resilience, confidence, and improved self-esteem in adolescent and early adult ages. Ciccio’s books target children ages 5 years and up and are distributed globally in countries such as Indonesia, Belgium, Turkey, Slovenia, Spain, South Korea, The Netherlands, Denmark, the United States, and more. Adam Ciccio is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in the state of Massachusetts, focused on applying CBT-based therapy for the treatment of anxiety-based disorders, behavioral concerns, mood disorders, & adjustment issues primarily in adolescents and young adults. Ciccio owns 4 outpatient counseling offices in the Greater Boston region. Ciccio also has a previous history of working in addiction and recovery counseling. He was a Clinical Director of a women’s inpatient resident program at The Dimock Center in Boston, MA, and holds a certification as an Interventionist from The Addictions Academy. Ciccio is a part-time graduate professor at Merrimack College, teaching Evaluation & Treatment of Addictions.Margriet van der Berg has been drawing since she could first hold a pencil. She grew up in a small village in the Netherlands and left home at age eighteen to study textile design at the Amsterdam Fashion Academy. After working for several years, she decided to study at the Art Academy. There, her love for painting with watercolors was born. Since then, Margriet has developed into an illustrator. She sells greeting cards and art prints, and since 2020, she has also illustrated children’s books. Her first book for Clavis Publishing was When the Whales Came by Phebe Rasch.