1. Acceptance
2. Art motifs
3. Compassion
4. Death
5. Empathy
6. Family
7. Grief
8. Hope
9. Loss
10. Love
11. Perspectives
12. Relationships
13. Sadness
14. Siblings
15. Symbolism
16. Trauma
17. Visual literacy

From the first pages, Jenny Angel soars over Sydney Harbour, before coming to rest on the roof of her house. She makes a bargain with herself, to stay on guard as her younger brother Davy’s guardian angel. She believes that if she does this, the doctors will be wrong, and Davy will not die. Davy also believes this.

Jenny’s magical thinking extends to wearing her mother’s old raincoat, angel wings, which Davy longs to touch. Jenny wears the raincoat everywhere, including to school, where the teachers have stopped nagging and the other children have stopped teasing her about it. She stops near his classroom to savour all the details about his classmates and lessons so she can tell him about them in great detail.

This beautiful sibling dynamic, where Jenny is trying to bring hope and joy to her brother, is reflected in the watercolour illustrations. On the pages in Davy’s room, instead of using dull and muted colours to reflect his waning energy, Spudvilas uses gentle washes of vibrant purples, oranges and yellows, as if Jenny is bringing the outside in.

In contrast, while Jenny is attending school and participating in the outside world, the images of her everyday world emphasise her alienation, through use of high vantage point of view, simple black lines and navy washes.

This book does not gloss over the realities of this tragic situation. Jenny’s mother tries to help prepare Jenny for Davy’s death by pointing out that her bargaining behaviour will not prevent the inevitable. In the end, her mother conquers her fear of heights to sit with Jenny on the roof and simply be together in their grief after Davy dies.

This book about the grieving process and sibling love won many awards:
Winner: CBCA Children’s Book of the Year Award - Picture Book 2000
Shortlisted: Young Australian Best Book Award - Picture Book 2001
NSW State Literary Award - Young Reader 2000
Australian Publishers Association - Design 1999
Family Award for Children’s Books - Picture Book 1999

1. Gathering Books 20 Nov 2013 review of ‘Jenny Angel’ by Myra Garces-Bacsal ‘On Raincoat Wings and Letting Go: Jenny Angel’ https://gatheringbooks.org/2013/11/20/on-raincoat-wings-and-letting-go-jenny-angel-by-margaret-wild-and-anne-spudvilas/
2. Growing Book by Book: A Guide to Nurturing Young Readers 12 Apr 2021 Bibliography for Kids on Death and Grief’ https://growingbookbybook.com/books-for-kids-on-death-and-grief/
3. StoryLinks ‘Reading List #28, 2019: ‘Death, Grief and Loss in Picture Books’ https://storylinks.booklinks.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/r-l-28-death-grief-and-loss-in-picture-books.pdf
4. Thesis on death in award-winning picture books, ‘A Less than Perfect World: Representation of Death in Award-Winning Picture Books’ by Kathryn R Comellas, Florida State University Libraries, 2014 https://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu:252818/datastream/PDF/view
5. Family Bereavement Support Programme Social Work Department Newsletter May 2018 newsletter exploring reading and writing, Royal Children’s Hospital Parkville, VIC https://www.rch.org.au/uploadedFiles/Main/Content/socialwork/family_bereavement/2018%20May%20Newsletter.pdf