Bibi Dumon Tak and Annemarie van Haeringen
Sien's Heaven
On the day Sien leaves, the sky is pitch black. The cloud from which this wonderfully beautiful picture book develops is also pitch black.
With a fragile white line, Annemarie van Haeringen (b. 1959) sketches the basket where the dog takes her last breath. Gradually, more colour slips into the pages, the black cloud takes on the shape of a dog, and room for comfort and consolation is created.
Bibi Dumon Tak (b. 1964) wrote this tale in small sentences with great power and eloquence, creating a brave story about loss and mourning. Van Haeringen came up with an entirely new visual language to express grief.
