A very moving journey through grief: Pockety the tortoise has things to teach you In this simple story about grief, and the continuation of life, a tortoise mourns her lost friend, learns to live alone, and finds ways of being happy again. Moving, funny, and insightful, Pockety captures the feelings of losing someone we love - from denial and anger to eventual peace - through the world of a young tortoise. It speaks clearly to something we all experience: what we must pay for having love in our lives, and how we may grow around those losses. Pockety is a tale for everyone, young and old, and for anyone who has ever loved. Florence Seyvos grew up in Northern France. At 20 she won first prize in a short story competition, then went on to publish her first children's book. She has also written several novels for adults, including Les Apparitions (awarded the Prix Goncourt du premier roman) and more recently Un Garcon Incassable . She has also collaborated on a number of screenplays with Noemie Lvovsky, including Sentiments and Camille Redouble . Pockety looked through the window at the tree- branches sketching weird forms in the blackness. Then she pulled the curtains. She took a sheet of paper, her pencil, and she sat on the ground. She listened to the silence, without moving. She tried to guess what the silence was saying to her. And she began to write. My dear Thumb, ?I am a very cheerful tortoise.? Perhaps now I will no longer cry when I think of you, but I shall miss you always. So, when I feel really sad, I will pretend to cry. Later on, I hope I can forget you just a little bit. But right now, I hope that I shall never forget you. Signed: Pockety