Corey’s Rock

by Sita Brahmachari, illustrated by Jane Ray

Interest age: 7 to 10
Reading age: 8+

Published by Otter-Barry Books, 2018

Myths and legends

About this book

Isla, her mum and dad and their dog move to the Orkney Islands from Edinburgh after Isla’s five-year-old brother Corey passes away. Isla starts a new school where she makes new friends, but everything feels wrong, even though her new friend Magnus is gentle and kind.

In Orkney, Isla watches the seals in the sea, and thinks how human they look. At the library, Isla asks the kind librarians for some lovely books about selkies and reads about how the old Celtic tales say they are the souls of those who have drowned. One night, when mum is out delivering a baby, Isla dreams of Corey, swimming free in the sea as a selkie, and is able to let him go, just a little.

Sensitive, sad and ultimately uplifting, this short tale of a family dealing with the loss of a child is deeply affecting. It touches on the plight of refugees drowning at sea also, and reflects on ideas of families and togetherness, despite the losses that may come. Brahmachari always writes with tenderness and awareness about how global and personal difficulties affect children, and Jane Ray’s soft wash illustrations hold the space beautifully for this quiet story of transformation and healing.

About the author

Sita Brahmachari is a multi-award-winning writer of novels, plays, novellas and short stories. Sita's first novel, Artichoke Hearts, won the Waterstones Children's Book Award and was voted in the Guardian's top 50 books celebrating diversity since the 1950s. Her subsequent Carnegie-nominated novels are: Jasmine Skies, Red Leaves, Tender Earth, Worry Angels and Zebra Crossing Soul Song. Kite Spirit was nominated for the UKLA book award. She has been an Amnesty International Ambassador and speaks in schools, at festivals and conferences. In 2018 Tender Earth received the UK Honour from the International Board of Books for Young People. Sita is based in London.

She is a former Writer in Residence for BookTrust and Writer in Residence at the Islington Centre for Refugees and Migrants.

About the illustrator

Jane Ray is an English illustrator of more than 70 children's books.She is the writer and illustrator of some including Can You Catch a Mermaid?, Ahmed and the Feather Girl and The Elephants Garden. She won the 1992 Nestlé Children's Book Prize in the 6- to 8-year-old readers category for the Story of the Creation and has been shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal several times. She was also a nominee for the Bratislava Illustration Bienale 2017.

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