A beautifully illustrated children's book helping families process infant loss through miscarriage or stillbirth. Customers said it's "excellent" and "well written," bringing comfort and healing. The story depicts a baby's journey to heaven with the Blessed Mother, providing hope and facilitating conversations with siblings. Some noted it's better suited for later-term losses than early miscarriages.
One of the hardest parts of the loss of my 3 children to miscarriage was explaining what happened to the babies to my living children. I'm so grateful resources like this have been created to fill in the gap. We are proud to link this book on our resources page for my ministry, We Carry You Still, as a faithful resource.
Great for children and even adults!
Great source of support for children and parents who experienced the loss of their sibling/child
Excellent book, and well written, too. It's a blessing to moms who have angels in heaven. Perfect for their siblings here on earth!
Beautiful book and so helpful for young siblings of a baby that dies in utero or shortly after birth! Unfortunately I have given two of these to families in the past year. The families found them helpful!!!
I wish I had this book when I lost a baby years ago!
As a mother of 4 little Saints in Heaven, this book struck a particular chord. We have made these babies a part of our family from the beginning and my eldest will ask questions from time to time about them ♥️ This was the perfect book to read with him. I sobbed almost the whole way through.
Daughter and family just lost their eagerly-awaited daughter and enjoyed holding her for only 4 hours. This book seemed a perfect gift when you just have “no words”.
This book is beautiful. I cried, but it is beautifully written and illustrated. Our parish Pro-Life Group recently saw our dream of a pro-life lending library, for our church, come to fruition. This book was purchased for that purpose and wil, hopefully, help those who have lost a child.
I highly recommend buying this book for families who have lost a baby through miscarriage. It gives a great explanation on something that is hard to explain to children.
It's a tale of a BEAUTIFUL journey to God - a real solace even after 46 years' loss. ♥️
My eighth child was unexpectedly stillborn; he died during childbirth. This book has been a blessing to help my children grieve their brother and understand that he is with God. It includes at the end the Collect Prayer for children who die before baptism. The writing and illustrations are superb. What really stuck with all of us was that God wanted Jellybean to experience the love of a family before returning to Him. Thank you, Theoni and Bastian Bell, for sharing your loss and helping all of us. God bless you.
I could really feel the compassion and sincerity as I read this book. Author and illustrator both took great care in writing and depicting such a sensitive topic. This book with help many families coping with this kind of loss.
Loved the story and it made me cry. I've always believed that the Blessed Mother and family members raised my babies. It's been about 50 years but I still think about Joshua James and Lauren Michelle.
Heartrending in its honesty and depiction of earthly and spiritual realities – with all the joy, grief, and ultimately hope that families feel in welcoming and then relinquishing their precious baby from the mother’s womb to the arms of the Father. We’ve shared these losses with our children, and this is a valuable tool for many, many grieving families.
A sweet book to gift families going through difficult times.
Theoni and Bastien Bell have created a wonderful resources for families healing from the deep grief of pregnancy loss. Jellybean's simple rhyme and beautiful illustrations tell a tremendously hopeful story of a baby's journey from her mother's womb to her heavenly home, and her role in praying for her family to join her there. I wish I'd had this book after our own losses!
This is the first children's book that I have read on miscarriage and stillbirth. This book is so important for siblings of child loss. Theoni's words are so deeply penetrating combined with Bernadette's beautiful watercolors. Such a reminder that God and our Blessed Mother are with us in our darkest moments.
There are not many good books to help the children in a family when a little one passes away, so this book is a beautiful and much needed resource. The illustrations are perfect for children; you can sit down with your kids and help them understand what has happened in a way that is very hopeful and comforting.
There is an inscription page in the front that allows you to dedicate the book in honor of the little one. Sometimes when we have no words, a book like this can speak for us.
Jellybean: A Baby’s Journey to God, written by Theoni and Bastian Bell and illustrated by Bernadette Gockowski, is a beautifully comforting picture book about the journey of an infant from conception to the moment she is called to heaven instead of delivered into the world. Written in rhyming verse, this book begins by describing the cozy environment of the mother’s womb, and all the pleasant sounds a baby girl, Jellybean, can hear, including her parents’ voices and her siblings’ play. As the time approaches when the baby is meant to join her family, the Blessed Mother comes to take her to heaven and explains that the rest of her family can’t join her now, but that she can pray for them until they can be reunited.
The loss of an unborn child can be so hard to explain to young children, but this book eases the burden by putting this difficult experience into kid-friendly terms. The story is a tear-jerker, as any book about infant loss is bound to be, but the sadness is accompanied by hope in Jesus. The living siblings mourn their lost sister, but the baby is with them in their sadness, and the children and parents are able to ask for her intercession. The book is also beautifully pro-life, as it depicts the child as a human being from its earliest moments.
The gorgeous illustrations really capture the emotions of each stage of the story: the joyful anticipation of the new baby, the love the Blessed Mother has for Jellybean when she comes for her, the joy on the face of Jesus as He reaches down to embrace the baby when she arrives in heaven, and the sadness of the family as they visit the cemetery.
In sharing their personal experience through this medium, these authors have given the world of Catholic children’s books a beautiful gift: an authentically Catholic book about the loss of unborn babies. If you are facing the sad task of sharing with a young child that an unborn child has died, this book is the perfect resource for that situation. It provides the words to begin the conversation as well as accompanying images to spark further discussion and questions. While the story made me cry, it also filled me with hope for all the babies I’ve known who didn’t survive until birth.
A beautiful story for those suffering through a miscarriage.
I cannot recommend this book enough for anyone who has experienced a miscarriage. It is a simple, BEAUTIFUL depiction of a baby being called to heaven before they are born and how they pray for their family as they heal from their loss. Definitely made me cry and brought some healing.
I bought this book as a gift for a friend who recently lost her little girl shortly before birth. This sweet story I hope will bring comfort and joy to her parents, and to her big brother. It is a comfort to know that the little one is in the arms of the Blessed Mother.
What a sweet story! Although I understand it is for children, my heart was so moved by this simple story! So simple yet so very profound! It made me cry!
Beautiful book for families suffering a loss of a child
I was disappointed as I thought it was about miscarriages. I thought it would help my daughter explain to her children about the baby sibling that was waiting for them in heaven. Instead, the gender was known & even a gravestone to visit. It is unusable for what I hoped. Wish I could return it.
Jelly bean is compassionately written and illustrated. It is a wonderful gift for anyone who has lost a baby.
We lost my first great granddaughter. She was still born. This book can help her siblings and their parents loss.
Very well explaination and easy for children to understand.