Local authors speak on how The Sad Book opens up conversations about grief and emotion for everyone of all ages
By Hannah Caparino, September 5 2024—
Local Calgary teacher Carla Shafer and illustrator Laura Ambrosone have collaborated in writing and illustrating a new children’s book titled The Sad Book. The book is part of the Matteo Shafer Legacy Fund, a project that is being spearheaded by Shafer to honour her son Matteo, as well as raise money for the Rotary Flames House and other programs that prioritize cancer research. The book follows a “bloop” character experiencing the primary feeling of sadness, and learning how to process and express the emotion. The duo spoke on how The Sad Book creates space to discuss the act of being vulnerable and how the book can further impact a child’s development.
“I’ll give you a bit of background,” Shafer said. “My son passed away in 2016 and so I guess during that time of grieving […] I never expressed any of my feelings and I was really concerned that my son, Dominic, would have the same experience as I did through his grief journey with regards to his other brother Matteo.”
The book was written as a response to grief and to allow children to express their feelings. The bloop character also carries visual appeal, which can heavily influence how children interact with the book. Ambrosone’s bloop the character is coloured to reflect the emotions that the bloop is feeling. Ranging from a light blue, bold red and a meek green, each colour represents the many highs and lows associated with sadness. The character also has the most imaginative potential as readers can interpret the characters as they wish and is also incredibly accessible. Everyone can form some form of connection to the character and the emotions that it represents.
“I was already starting to create this character […] which I call bloops because I wanted something that everyone can see themselves in and I didn’t want anything with a gender or an age. I just wanted to create something universal,” Ambrosone said.
After the final book was released, Shafer’s goal was to create conversations that would positively impact how kids can process their emotions.
“I think my goal was to impact as many kids as possible and to encourage as many children, and adults who are reading this story to feel comfortable sharing their feelings,” Shafer said. “I think now as a teacher and as a mom that emotional regulation and encouraging kids to not repress their feelings [is important].”
The two also spoke on how the local Calgary community has engaged with the book. Both Shafer and Ambrosone had appeared in a variety of schools to speak about the book and held a number of book signings. A major supporter of the duo’s endeavours is the Bridgeland store, Cherry Tree Lane. The toy store had hosted a number of workshops for Shafer and Ambrosone, while also offering to sell the book for visitors to purchase. The book can be found in-store and is priced at ten dollars, with all proceeds going towards the Matteo Legacy Fund and its associated charities. Shafer also outlined a financial goal for The Sad Book, explaining that if ten thousand dollars is raised then all the money will be donated to a charity of their choosing, and will be focused on something that Matteo would have loved.
The positive feedback and support from readers left both Shafer and Ambrosone excited for future projects. The concepts that they hope in both this book and more are ideas that they wished they had explored when the two were younger. Ideas like safe spaces and grief allow for children and the future generation to create safe and open environments.
“I feel like it has motivated us to write another book,” said Shafer. “Originally it was kind of inspired and it just happened, and now we can go somewhere with this.”
One of the biggest reasons Shafer and Ambrosone want to produce follow up works is discovering how parents learn to better understand their kids, creating a healing and open space for everyone.
“It’s been so beautiful to hear the stories that have been coming out of this and I’m really proud to be part of that,” Ambrosone said.
Although the pair had faced a few struggles in regards to gaining traction, both are hopeful and determined to continue writing and illustrating in order for kids to better understand their lives and life changes. The Sad Book has a strong sense of relatability as its core is the story of how someone learns to process and express raw emotion, and it explores how relationships can be strengthened through expression.
To learn more about The Sad Book, or to support the Matteo Legacy Foundation, click here.