Thanks to author, dancer and actress Rachel Montez Minor, bedtime has become more imaginative for kids. Minor, wife to award-winning musical director Rickey Minor, recently released a children’s book, See You On The Other Side. This work is unique as it addresses a topic that can be difficult to explain to kids: the death of loved ones.
“I write a little different than other authors,” Minor tells ESSENCE. “This book came to me in a dream while I was sleeping. So, it’s not like I sat down intending to write a book about loss and grief. The words came to me fully rhyming, and the title came first. And it was kind of, you know, downloaded from the dream space, which I feel you can tell because it’s very melodic.”
The book is one in a series of 10 that came to her in this fantasy-like place, with the first being The Sun, The Moon And the Stars, a story with the core message of unity and acceptance.
As for See You On the Other Side, it’s full of bright colors and rich illustrations guiding children through inevitable loss and delivers the message that the spirits of loved ones live on. It’s also a book that can resonate with adults, Minor says.
“This book is a gift from the dream space that I just wanted to share with everyone because it can bring us together as a family and open our hearts to connection and everlasting love. Love never ends and that is the truth. And it’s so simple that we can teach a child that,” she shares.
Grief takes on many forms and often goes beyond death though. We can experience it when we experience any major loss, from the loss of a friend to a loss of a job. Therefore, the work has a message that can resonate with adults, too.
“I think it gives us all an opportunity to realize that change is going to happen; no one’s immune from it,” Minor says. “So what a gift for all of us to realize that if we open our hearts and tap into this everlasting love, we can get through anything.”
Since every family has different beliefs about how to deal with grief, Minor attempted to make the book inclusive so any and everyone could relate. It doesn’t tell families how to grieve but focuses on the universal message of love and empowers people to navigate the grief based on their personal belief system. For Minor, she has a unique practice for dealing with loss, which includes a “deep meditation practice” and spending time in nature. “I’ve been visited in dreams by my grandmother, who was a huge force in my life,” she says. “Sometimes I’ll walk on the ocean and feel her with me.”
You can order See You On The Other Side for your children or others you love here.