A promotional film produced by Pishdaad Modaressi Chahardehi for the Kingston-Upon-Hull based arts charity The Herd about ‘Whale Song’ a picture book and supported schools workshop programme created to help children process their emotions during periods of bereavement and grief. As children participate in one of the workshops, the books authors writer Lua Bairstow and her sister illustrator Amy talk about how and why it was created and what the children gain from the experience. In a...

A promotional film produced by Pishdaad Modaressi Chahardehi for the Kingston-Upon-Hull based arts charity The Herd about ‘Whale Song’ a picture book and supported schools workshop programme created to help children process their emotions during periods of bereavement and grief. As children participate in one of the workshops, the books authors writer Lua Bairstow and her sister illustrator Amy talk about how and why it was created and what the children gain from the experience. In a school’s sports hall, as facilitators work with a class of primary school aged children as part of workshop. sisters Lua and Amy Bairstow talk about a storybook they have created for children and families to explore bereavement and death. As the some of the children read their story book, others continue to engage with the activities as Lua and Amy talk about the supporting school workshops that embodies and explores the themes of the book through play and conversation and how the children can help each other through their experience of grief. In a studio as Lua and Amy look flick through a copy of their storybook laid out on a table, they talk in voiceover about their own experience of losing a parent and the feels of alienation and isolation it created. They go onto talk about wanting to create something that was instructive and to create a story which was both useful and practical. Back in the school hall as a facilitator uses a model of a whale as part of a session Lua and Amy talk about the need to create a massive character that had a lot to say but didn’t know how to say it. As the children help each other through the session, Lua and Amy talk about the positive outcomes with the children learning how to work through the pain of loss, to transform and be able to remember someone’s life. As some of the children hug and embrace, the sisters talk about how much they have learned from the children. Title: The Herd End title: Lottery Funded Arts Council. Supported using public funding by Arts Council England. Hull Leisure and Culture. Hull School Library Service