As grown-ups increasingly embrace the emotional power and visual delights of picture books, here is a list of recommendations to suit every person and occasion

When my friend’s father passed away, we couldn’t find words to adequately convey our sympathy and love. Then I remembered Kelly Canby’s picture book A Leaf Called Greaf, and realised we actually had found the right words – they were in Canby’s book. Picture books are good like that.

A Leaf Called Greaf is about a lonely bear who finds a “beguiling” green leaf, and with it, comfort and companionship. Greaf (short for “green leaf”) changes with the seasons and eventually crumbles to pieces; gone but still surrounding Bear. It’s a gentle story with emotive windswept-looking illustrations that hint at the family Bear once had. My friend said the book touched her heart and that, for the first time since her father’s passing, she’d cried happy tears.