- Willow Burn Hospice is launching a new children’s bereavement book
- The story is designed to help young people understand and process grief
- Centred around the hospice’s mascot, Will O’Burn
- Created to support families through difficult conversations
- Book due to be released in June 2026
A new children’s book created in County Durham is set to offer gentle support to families navigating grief, with its roots firmly in the care work of Willow Burn Hospice.
At the heart of the project is Will O’Burn and the Friends Who Remember, an illustrated story built around the hospice’s well-known rabbit mascot. Through simple language and familiar characters, the book creates space for children to begin understanding loss in a way that feels safe and manageable.
Written by Victoria Downes and illustrated by Helen Turner, the story has been shaped with care to reflect real experiences of grief while avoiding overwhelming detail. The intention is not to provide all the answers, but to gently open the door to conversation.
The idea for the book has grown out of the hospice’s day-to-day work with families. Staff regularly see how difficult it can be for children to express what they are feeling, particularly when adults around them are also coping with loss. Storytelling offers a starting point where words are otherwise hard to find, giving children a way to explore emotions at a distance and at their own pace.
Rather than standing alone, the book is designed to sit alongside the wider support already provided by the hospice. It is expected to be used by families, schools and carers as a calm and reassuring introduction to conversations that might otherwise feel too difficult to begin.
The book is due to be released in June 2026, offering a new, locally rooted resource for families across County Durham and beyond. Its development reflects a clear and consistent need: helping children to talk, remember and feel, in their own time and in their own way.
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