The Arrangement

A tender, funny picture book about life, death and wonder; a father's letter to his child, for children and the adults who read to them.Where were you before you were born? Where will you be after your journey is done?The Arrangement is a tender, funny and profound picture book about being alive in a world that is both savage and beautiful.Beginning in the deep blue of a starlit night and ending in the warm gold of morning, it follows one small child's journey from their very first breath through a whole luminous life — the wonder, the questions, the falling down, the getting back up, the dancing, the loving, and the passing of it all to someone new.Along the way it gently asks the biggest questions a person can ask, and answers them not with certainty, but with levity. It is a book about how to find awe in an age of dread. About letting something real grow inside you. About how brightly you might choose to shine.Written for children and the big kids who read to them, The Arrangement is at once a gorgeous bedtime story and a meditation on meaning, mortality and joy for the adult holding the book. Inspired by the ideas of Ernest Becker and Carl Jung, and told with the warmth and wit of Douglas Adams, it is a story to grow up with — and to grow older with.A book to read aloud. A book to give. A book to return to, at every age.Where were you before you were born? A luminous new picture book about being alive — for children, and the grown-ups who read to them. A story to grow up with, and to grow older with.