Beyond the Setting Sun

There are some books you read once, nod appreciatively, and place back on the shelf. And then there are the ones that quietly find their way back into your hands at bedtime to be repeated. It surprised me that, given the subject matter, ‘Beyond the Setting Sun’ was one of those books for us.

This illustrated story gently explores the loss of a parent through the eyes of an elephant calf. The artwork is colourful and engaging without being overwhelming and is full of warmth, movement and softness. The illustrations hold the emotional tone of the story so gently that even our young son (aged 4) was able to sit comfortably with them.

The language is age-appropriate without being simplistic and tells the story at a gentle pace, allowing those moments for questions and processing. Our son stopped me at intervals to talk about how the elephants felt, which led to natural conversations about life after death.  The story doesn’t try to fix grief or wrap everything up neatly. Instead, it offers space: space for sadness, space for questions, and space for love that remains, despite the person we love not being “near” us.

Our four-year-old is currently far more interested in dinosaurs than most other literary genres so the fact that he asked for it to be read several times over says a great deal. The story clearly resonated and invited curiosity for him rather than fear.

For families unsure how to begin conversations about death and loss, this book is a gentle and helpful starting point. It provides language where many of us struggle to find our own. It opens the door without forcing it wide.

While not explicitly Christian, the narrative carries a deep sense of hope. There is a quiet suggestion that love endures beyond this life and an allusion to something more, without prescribing what that must look like. For faith-filled families with children age 3-6, that hopeful tone I think sits comfortably alongside a belief in life “beyond the setting sun”.