Review of “Welcome Home, Pearl” (Book 1) by Tuula Pere

Score: 95/100 (9.5 out of 10)

Very rarely will a book grip us and make us want to cry like Welcome Home, Pearl did.

Welcome Home, Pearl is a powerful, deep, and emotional children's book about a little boy named Jacob whose newborn baby sister, Pearl, was born premature, severely disabled, and with a very low probability of survival.

Leave it to Tuula Pere, our most prolific children's author, to dive into something as deep, dark, and depressing as a child dealing with the illness and potential loss of a sibling/loved one. Pere has long been known to have the audacity and courageous to tackle issues like this in a children's book.

We can't express enough how hard this book hit us on an emotional level. Some of us have dealt with situations like this, either in NICU, the ICU, or hospice care.

What we especially loved about this book is that, despite how sad the subject matter is, Jacob is so positive, optimistic, and hopeful about everything. He shines a light on the good that can come out of this otherwise terrible situation. He's grateful and thankful to finally be able to be a big brother and to be able to help and sing to Pearl. He's also an example of a fantastic son who supports his emotionally-distressed parents through this ordeal.

Catty Flores, one of our award-winning artists, returns as the illustrator for this book and series. We may have been a little critical of Catty's art in the past, but the art quality really isn't an issue with this book. It's beautiful for what it is and accomplishes exactly what it needed to accomplish. For example, Flores captured the fact that Pearl shared the same hair color as Jacob, even helping her hair color to stand out amid the wires and life support tubes surrounding Pearl.

If you or your child are coping with a sick or terminally ill loved one, or have recently lost a loved one, this book will touch you deeply.

Check it out on Amazon!