Author: Patrice Karst
Illustrator: Joanne Lew-Vriethoff
Publisher & Year: Little, Brown and Company • 2018
ISBN: 978-0316486231
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Picture Book • 40 pages • Ages 4–7 • Available in English, French, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish
The Invisible String introduces the idea that people who love one another are always connected, even when they are apart. Through the metaphor of an invisible string, the story reassures children that love can stretch across distance, separation, and even death without breaking.
While the book is not solely about grief, it offers comfort to children experiencing loss by emphasizing that emotional bonds continue even when someone is gone. With gentle language and repeated reassurance, the story supports children in understanding connection as something lasting, reliable, and emotionally safe.
The illustrations are bright, warm, and inviting, filled with expressive characters and expansive scenes that emphasize connection rather than isolation. The story moves through many imaginative and everyday settings, including homes, schools, outer space, underwater environments, and locations around the world, reinforcing the idea that emotional bonds extend across all distances.
The invisible string itself appears selectively rather than constantly, allowing the concept of connection to remain felt even when it is not shown. This restraint mirrors the book’s message that love does not need to be visible to be real. Consistent use of cheerful color palettes, gentle facial expressions, and close physical proximity between characters creates a strong sense of emotional safety and reassurance throughout the book.
• Family Use
Supports conversations about separation, distance, and loss by offering a reassuring framework for discussing love as ongoing and secure. Especially helpful during transitions such as death, deployment, hospitalization, or family separation.
• Therapy / Counseling
Useful for introducing concepts of attachment, emotional continuity, and reassurance. The metaphor can help children articulate feelings of missing someone while maintaining a sense of connection.
• Grief Support Settings
Provides a gentle entry point for children beginning to talk about loss, particularly when the goal is comfort rather than deep emotional processing.
• School & Community Settings
Appropriate for group read-alouds focused on empathy, belonging, and emotional safety.
Themes: Emotional Safety & Reassurance, Grief & Loss, Love & Connection
Topics: Death of a Loved one, Emotional Bonds, Separation from Loved Ones
Tone: comforting, reassuring, warm
No major literary awards or national bestseller lists known. Widely used by families, educators, and counselors as a comforting resource during times of separation and loss.
Genre: Bibliotherapy
Age range: Early Childhood (4-7)