SEE ALSO:
A Kid’s Book About Grief, Brennan C. Wood. This book skillfully explains the mixture of emotions children can feel after a loss.
Grief Is a Mess, Jackie Shuld. Through humorous illustrations, this book explains how grief is different for everyone.
Memories Matter: 70 Activities for Grieving Children and Teens, the Dougy Center.
Lifetimes, the Beautiful Way to Explain Death to Children, Bryan Mellonie and Robert Ingpen. A sensitive book about beginnings and endings, especially for young children but suitable for people of all ages.
A Walk in the Woods, Nicki Grimes, Jerry Pinkney, and Brian Pinkney. A young boy goes on an adventure after his father’s death.
Empty and Me, Azam Mahdavi. A little girl’s experience with an imaginary friend after her mother dies.
Where Did Benjamin Go?, Chris Clarkson. A little boy named Charlie remembers his big brother who died.
Always Sisters, Saira Mir. A mother explains to her little girl that the baby sister they both looked forward to won’t be coming home.
I Wish I Could Tell You, Jean-Francois Senechal. A little fox’s grandmother dies.
Sylvester’s Letter, Matthew Burgess. Letters can’t be delivered in the usual way when they have to go all the way to Heaven.
Grief Is an Elephant, Tamara Ellis Smith. Grief starts out as an elephant and eventually shrinks to the size of a firefly.
Cape, Kevin Johnson. A little boy has to attend a funeral and puts on a big red cape to help him cope with the most painful of his feelings.
The Swing, Britta Tekentrup. For readers of all ages, these swings are both a place to fly and a place to be in quiet solitude.
The Bear and the Wildcat, Kazui Sakai. A bear mourns his bird friend
My Friend Loonie, Nina La Cour. A little girl loses her balloon and learns that she can be sad for a while and then feel happy again.
BOOKS AND RESOURCES FOR PARENTS
Bonanno, George. The End of Trauma: how the new science of resilience is changing how we think about PTSD.
Boss, Pauline. Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief. London: Harvard University Press, 2000.
Boss, Pauline. Loss, Trauma and Resilience: therapeutic work with ambiguous loss.
Christ, Grace Hyslop. Healing Children’s Grief.
DeVita-Raeburn, Elizabeth. The Empty Room: Understanding Sibling Loss. New York: Scribner, 2007.
DiCiacco, Janis. The Colors of Grief: Understanding a child’s journey through loss from birth to adulthood.
Masur, Corinne. How Children Grieve: What adults miss and what they can do to help.
Volcan and Sintl. Life After Loss: The lessons of grief.
Children, Teens and Suicide Loss, the Dougy Center
Helping Children Cope With Death, the Dougy Center
Helping Teens Cope With Death, the Dougy Center
35 Ways to Help a Grieving Child, the Dougy Center
Resilient Grief, Lucy Hone
Never the Same: Coming to Terms With the Death of a Parent, Donna Schuurman
Helping Children’s Grief: Surviving a Parent’s Death From Cancer, Grace Hyslop Christ
Thoughtful Parenting 