When Aunt Mattie Got Her Wings

by Petra Mathers, Petra Mathers (Illustrator)

Overview

Lottie the Chicken deals with the loss of Aunt Mattie in this gently sad and sweetly funny picture book that explores the death of a loved one, in the tradition of Judith Viorst’s The Tenth Good Thing about Barney.

Aunt Mattie has died. But before she went, she got to say good-bye to Lottie. Then she got to follow a light to a bustling gate. (A gate that sounded a lot like a busy airport!) And there she found a crew of friends who were waiting to take off with her on a new journey.

Will Lottie and Herbie be able to overcome their sadness? They will, with time, and by taking a journey of their own—a journey filled with a little heartache, a lot of happiness, and a batch of Aunt Mattie’s favorite peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches. (With bananas, of course!)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781481410441
Publisher:	Beach Lane Books
Publication date:	09/09/2014
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	599,738
Product dimensions:	6.80(w) x 10.40(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD500L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Petra Mathers (1945–2024) was the author and illustrator of many picture books, including her beloved Lottie series. Lottie’s New Beach Towel was Book of the Year for Parenting Magazine, and Lottie’s New Friend was named a New York Times Best Illustrated Book and won the Silver Medal from the New York Society of Illustrators. Petra and her husband, author and photographer Michael Mathers, lived in Astoria, Oregon.

Petra Mathers (1945–2024) was the author and illustrator of many picture books, including her beloved Lottie series. Lottie’s New Beach Towel was Book of the Year for Parenting Magazine, and Lottie’s New Friend was named a New York Times Best Illustrated Book and won the Silver Medal from the New York Society of Illustrators. Petra and her husband, author and photographer Michael Mathers, lived in Astoria, Oregon.

Editorial Reviews

07/21/2014
Best friends Lottie the chicken and Herbie the duck from Lottie’s New Beach Towel and its sequels face the death of Lottie’s Aunt Mattie. Their sorrow is palpable, yet the story requires familiarity with Mathers’s characters. When Herbie learns that Mattie is ailing, he protests that she is a nurse. “She isn’t sick; she’s ninety-nine years old,” Lottie replies. “You mean it’s like her motor is all worn out?” Herbie asks, his metaphor complicating the information about nursing and old age. Lottie hurries to the hospital and finds Mattie gazing out the window at a billboard picturing a passenger jet; after a bit of conversation, Mattie closes her eyes peacefully. A wordless page pictures a group of birds welcoming Mattie to a plane labeled “Out of This World Airlines”—the source of the book’s euphemistic title. Mathers’s landscape layout moves the action ahead in placid, thoughtful, comics-style panels; Herbie arrives to comfort Lottie, and the friends celebrate Mattie’s life and scatter her ashes. Heartfelt though it is, this tale muddles the common experience of grief with distracting extraneous details. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

There are many books about death for children, but this one, in both tone and tale, is unique. Lottie the hen phones her friend Herbie the duck when she learns that 99-year-old Aunt Mattie is very ill. Herbie gets it. “You mean it’s like her motor is all worn out.” On the bus ride into town, Lottie thinks about the fun the three of them have had, especially taking the motorboat out to Pudding Rock. Once in the hospital, Lottie must adjust to what’s going on as she watches her aunt breath heavily and realizes that they are spending their last moments together. Then, Aunt Mattie is gone. Although Herbie fears the tunnel traffic, he has braved it to be with Lottie, and he is at her side when she says, “I am so sad.” Herbie reminds her, “We are together.” Later, at Auntie’s home, Lottie finds a letter from her, that helps a little, and later, Lottie and Herbie go to Pudding Rock and scatter her ashes. Both funny and wise, this covers the many moments that make up a death: the memories, the sadness, and the solace. Mather’s small, squared watercolor art are simple yet touched with whimsy (in one scene, Aunt Mattie gets ready for “take-off” with friends greeting her at a plane), while the text knowingly captures the feeling of the bereaved: “Maybe our hearts ache because Aunt Mattie is moving in.

September 1 Booklist

"For its wistful yet whimsical and deeply comforting description of grief, June's Sentence of the Month goes to Petra Mathers for this line from When Aunt Mattie got her wings: "Maybe our hearts ache because Aunt Mattie is moving in.""

Alicia Potter Books Blog - Alicia Potter

★ 2014-07-16
Lottie the hen must say goodbye to her beloved aunt Mattie in this gentle story about loss, grief and friendship. When the hospital calls to say Aunt Mattie is getting weak, Lottie journeys to see her. On the long bus ride, happy memories surface—of shared picnics and jokes, and of Mattie herself, a bird full of humor and gusto, who found her calling as a nurse. But now Aunt Mattie is 99, ready to fly to the great beyond. For hours, Lottie sits with her aunt at the hospital. Descriptive details (the sound of Aunt Mattie's breathing, the way she looks in the hospital bed, the feeling of day turning to night) are simply captured; yet in doing so, Mathers brings meaning to the clinical and unfamiliar. Here, these moments are precious and valuable. Throughout the tale, Lottie's friend Herbie is a comforting presence. His innocent perspective allows even the very young to grasp complex concepts. As he drives Lottie to the bus station, meets her at the hospital and shares in her heartache, it's clear his friendship and support make this difficult time bearable for Lottie. Together, the two scatter Aunt Mattie's ashes in the ocean, so she'll "always be near...mixed in with sand and sea." Watercolor illustrations, painted in mostly square panels and organized like an old newspaper comic strip, are earnest and appealing.Lucid and insightful, Mathers presents death and grief as natural processes with compassion and great care. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews