Dedicated to the fierce and loving spirit of UNC alumna Maleikka Hardy Williams (1972-2008) and her family, I Will Love You Everywhere Always is a book about Hope. It is about finding the everyday places and spaces to feel the enduring presence of loved ones who have passed on. Rendered in the poetic voice of a four-year-old struggling to understand her mother’s illness and passing, it is a book about being brave, being sad, and learning to be OK.
Hope’s journey teaches us that “passing on” doesn’t mean “passing away.” Even in the midst of our sadness, we can make our loved ones present for ourselves and for others anytime we choose to. We just need to talk about them, tell and re-tell their stories, and carry the best of them forward through our words and deeds. As Mommy says, “I’ll hug you every time the wind blows. I’ll kiss your eyelids every time your eyes close. I’ll be Auntie Nima’s softest touch. I’ll be the stuffed bear you love so much. Hope, Baby, what I am trying to say, is that I will never leave you. I will love you everywhere always.”
Written by Renée Alexander Craft and illustrated by Cosmo Whyte, I Will Love You Everywhere Always is a full-color 32-page 11″ x 9″ picture book. In the tradition of Shel Silverstein’s The Missing Piece, The Missing Piece Meets the Big O, and The Giving Tree, this book is targeted to those 1 and up who crave stories of beauty, love, understanding, appreciation, healing, and hope.
To purchase a copy, click here.
View the book’s website here, and like us on Facebook here.
