What do you think it means?

Sophisticated Picture Books: The Heart and the Bottle. By Oliver Jeffers. 

Credit - Brain Picking

What happens in this book?

A young girl has an immense imagination. With her grandad (dad?) by her side, she can think of and do anything. No matter what she does, he's always there with her. Until one day, his chair was empty. This can come across as he has died or he has just left in general. After this, she decides she needs to protect her heart. To do this she places it inside a bottle. Possibly symbolising "bottling" up her feelings? She places the bottle around her neck. As life goes on, the bottle around her neck gets heavier and heavier. The heavier the bottle gets, the smaller and weaker her imagination grows. She stops being curious about the world. Until, one day, when she's much older, she meets a young girl. The young girl is very much like her younger self. Upon meeting this younger girl, the older girl remembers about the bottle around her neck and wants to get it back out. She, however, cannot figure out a way to get it back out. After trying and trying, the younger girl says she might know a way to get it out. Just like that, the young girl gets it out of the bottle and the older girl gets her imagination back.
This can be thought of in many different ways. But maybe your idea is different to mine or others? If you ever get the chance to read this, certainly do!

Who would you recommend this book to and why?

Credit - Amazon

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a book you can think about it. Or even someone going through, or have been through, grief. Why? Well, this book is one where you have to both read between the lines and make sense of the pictures. One of the main underlines of this story is grief and acceptance of loss, showing you it's not the best idea to bottle up your feelings and to just tell someone.

How is curiosity important in this story?

It shows us what you can lose when losing someone important to you. You aren't just losing that person but everything that person gave you. Whether it be life skills, or in the book's case, curiosity. She could've felt safe to be curious about the world while she was with him and when she lost him, that feeling of security went with him.

Have you read this book before?

If yes, what did you like about it? What did you take from it?

If no, would you want to read it?