Don't Forget Your Heart

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This illustrated book serves as a valuable resource for adults, including parents and professionals, seeking to facilitate conversations with children about different types of losses such as separation, death, displacement, and more. It offers a sensitive and constructive approach to addressing these challenging topics, empowering both adults and children to navigate difficult emotions with empathy and understanding.

Don't Forget Your Heart is a poignant tale, blending Haiku-style storytelling with themes of grief journaling, loss, and resilience. Follow the journey of a character who, despite enduring heartbreak 64 times and a half, finds solace in mending hearts. This book is designed for both children and adults, offering a gentle exploration of complex emotions. The final pages include thought-provoking questions for discussion, while the epilogue provides guidance on approaching these sensitive topics with children.

Liza, thank you!

Liza, the wake on Saturday was so so so beautiful and a big part of it was the inspiration and support you offered me, so thank you!

Meghan Hellstern

Human-centered design, public sector innovation, facilitation and capacity-building

Liza is a heart-centred soul and a true artist

I have had the pleasure of facilitating a grief circle with Liza, in which she created a container of safety, empathy, and creative expression for our participants. We have also collaborated on her visual story "The Nine-Month Snail Dance" in which she shared her deeply personal story about grief, acceptance, and healing.

Jessica Fan

Senior Advisor at Canadian Digital Service | Systems Change, Design Strategy, Executive Coaching

The inspiration behind Don't Forget Your Heart stems from a deeply personal journey, dedicated to my late father, Yuri Futerman, who passed away at 76. During his lifetime, he was the primary caregiver for my mother, Faina Futerman, who battled early-onset Alzheimer's until her passing at 65 due to COVID-19 in 2021.

I had the privilege of writing and producing Don't Forget Your Heart while my father was still alive. At the book's launch, he performed alongside his choir, just months before his own passing. This project has been a therapeutic outlet for my own grief, and I hope it offers solace to others navigating their own paths of loss and healing.

When I initially wrote Don't Forget Your Heart it had no title, just a short poetic story that started with a melody in my head while I was visiting my friends in Haifa. Once it was written it asked for audience and I found myself telling the story on open stage nights and amidst children in kindergartens I worked, at literary festivals and at friends' gatherings. 2 years after the poetic story was born I saw an illustrated card my friends and colleagues Ira & Lena Simonovich of SIMSISTERS STUDIO sent my way for the holidays. Something in this greeting card spoke the visual language I envisioned at the time for this particular text. I reached out to them and proposed that we collaborate to create a children's book for adults about grief, loss, and the healing quality of friendship. Lena took up the task of an illustrator and Ira supported the process artistically. It was an 8-month long journey after which we had a children's book for adults on our hands and a bright future of possibilities.

Recently I've created a theatrical rendition of the story and have performed for children and adults at the local community centre.

Don't Forget Your Heart serves as a invaluable resource in my somatic grief practices, both with children and adults. Beyond aiding in my personal grieving process, this artistic endeavor has become a powerful tool for initiating conversations about complex topics like death and various forms of loss. Particularly during these challenging times in our geo-political area, Don't Forget Your Heart provides a meaningful starting point for exploring these sensitive themes in a supportive and therapeutic manner.

Currently Don't Forget Your Heart is available in Hebrew, your support can help bring this valuable book to English-speaking audiences. Consider donating to make this heartfelt story accessible to more readers.

I'm proud of this artistic endeavor, that has very much impacted my experience of grieving my father's passing and encourage you to read it and allow yourself to be inspired by it.

I'm happy to offer consultation and guidance on how to get started on creating your own graphic children's book and am happy to support you and your loved ones in this creative process.