A Bunch of Balloons: A Book – Workbook for Grieving Children – Dorothy Ferguson

A book to help grieving children acknowledge what they have lost and celebrate what they still have left when someone they love had died.

Always My Twin – Valerie R. Samuels and Najah ClemmonsAngel 

Always My Twin, for young children who have experienced the death of their twin sibling, is a book for any child whose twin died before birth, after birth or as a young child. The story is based on the author’s own experience of losing a newborn twin daughter in 2002. The book tells the story through the eyes of a young girl whose twin sister dies shortly after their births. She begins her story with sharing the womb with her twin, the joy of her family anticipating the arrival of twins, the family’s pain of losing one of their precious babies, and her own expressions of grief for her twin’s death. The surviving twin also shares with the audience the precious ways in which she and her family remember her twin throughout the year. Included are interactive pages for the reader to respond to with pictures, identifying feelings and providing family information.

Always Ours – Christy Wopat

Erin and Mae are sisters who are eagerly waiting to meet their new baby brother, James. When the girls find out that he has died before he even got to come home, they are confused and sad. With her teacher’s help and a heart full of bravery and love, Mae embarks on a journey to find a way to honor and cherish a family member that couldn’t stay. She and her sister help us see then even after our family members are gone, they will always be ours.

Angel Chase and His Mommy’s Sign – Colleen Severance

Written by Colleen from a personal experience, this book is provided to bring some comfort to parents and can be used to explain the loss of a pregnancy or child to other young children.

Baby Angels – Jane Cowen-Fletcher

With gentle rhymes and warm pastels, Jane Cowen-Fletcher’s fetching creation will soon have readers of all ages believing in baby angels.

Ethan’s Butterflies – Christine Jonas-Simpson

A heartwarming story of the continuing relationship our children have with their brothers or sisters they have lost. A gentle tale to help parents open the first words of precious and healing dialogue.

Gentle Willow: A Story for Children About Dying – J.C. Mills

Explains the dying process, how the living can comfort the dying, and how we cherish memories of them after death. Can prepare a sibling for the impending death of a baby. Spiritual without being religious, it describes death as change of form rather than an ending.

Healing a Child’s Grieving Heart– Alan Wolfelt, PhD

This book is for families, friends and caregivers who want practical, day-to-day “how-tos” for helping the grieving children they love. Some of the ideas teach about children’s unique mourning styles and needs. Others suggest simple activities and “companioning” tips. A compassionate, easy-to-read resource for parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, teachers, volunteers — and a great refresher for professional caregivers.

Healing Your Grieving Heart for Kids: 100 Practical Ideas – Alan D. Wolfelt, PhD

With sensitivity and insight, this series offers suggestions for healing activities that can help survivors learn to express their grief and mourn naturally. Acknowledging that death is a painful, ongoing part of life, they explain how people need to slow down, turn inward, embrace their feelings of loss, and seek and accept support when a loved one dies. Each book, geared for mourning adults, teens, or children, provides ideas and action-oriented tips that teach the basic principles of grief and healing. These ideas and activities are aimed at reducing the confusion, anxiety, and huge personal void so that the living can begin their lives again. Included in the books for teens and kids are age-appropriate activities that teach younger people that their thoughts are not only normal but necessary.

Isabelle’s Dream: A Story and Activity Book for a Child’s Grief Journey – Betsy Bottino Arenella

Based on the true story of two sisters, Isabelle’s Dream takes the reader on a heartwarming jouney from grief to hope.

Lifetimes: The Beautiful Way to Explain Death to Children – Bryan Mellonie

When the death of a relative, a friend, or a pet happens or is about to happen . . . how can we help a child to understand?

Lifetimes is a moving book for children of all ages, even parents too. It lets us explain life and death in a sensitive, caring, beautiful way. Lifetimes tells us about beginnings. And about endings. And about living in between. With large, wonderful illustrations, it tells about plants. About animals. About people. It tells that dying is as much a part of living as being born. It helps us to remember. It helps us to understand.

Love From a Star – Katherine Cutchin Gazetta

Sometimes you just need to know that you are loved. That is what this little gift book is all about. With a stowaway frog hidden throughout the pages, Love from a Star brings a message that you are loved and never alone. Wherever you are, whatever you face, God is there. Just look for His star. Painted with watercolors for a whimsical effect, this book includes glow-in-the-dark stars, a gift from Bear and Rabbit

Love You Forever – Robert Muncsh

Love You Forever started as a song.

“I’ll love you forever,
I’ll like you for always,
as long as I’m living
my baby you’ll be.”

I made that up after my wife and I had two babies born dead. The song was my song to my dead babies. For a long time I had it in my head and I couldn’t even sing it because every time I tried to sing it I cried. It was very strange having a song in my head that I couldn’t sing.

My Baby Big Sister– Cathy Blanford

“My Baby Big Sister” was written for children who were born subsequent to a pregnancy loss or infant death. This book will help with the confusion these children often experience when they learn about the baby who died before they were born.

Mommy Please Don’t Cry, There are No Tears in Heaven – Linda DeYmaz

is a book of love and comfort for mothers who have experienced the deep sorrow of losing a child. Each page is like opening a gift…bright, beautiful, joyful illustrations and gentle, poignant words describe heaven from a child’s eyes. It is a message of hope and healing

No New Baby – Marilyn Gryte

No New Baby is an excellent little book for youngsters whose mommy miscarries. A neat Grandma explains that you are not to blame, we don’t always have answers, and that it is OK to ask questions. It also affirms the normalcy of play during times of crisis or sadness

Parenting Through Crisis: Helping Kids in Times of Loss, Grief and Change – Barbara Coloroso

In this companion to her bestselling Kids are Worth It!, parenting educator Barbara Coloroso shows how parents can help children find a way through grief and sorrow during the difficult times of death, illness, divorce, and other upheavals. She offers concrete, compassionate ideas for supporting children as they navigate the emotional ups and downs that accompany loss, assisting them in developing their own constructive ways of responding to what life hands them.

Sibling Grief – Sherokee Ilse, Linda Hammer Burns, Susan Erling Martinez

is a practical guide that helps parents understand the needs of their surviving children following the death of a sibling. Whether the death is due to miscarriage, infant death or the death of an older child, Sibling Grief assists families and care providers as they teach and support the surviving brothers and sisters.
Sections include:
Your beloved child has died
How do you tell your children that their sibling has died?
How much do children really understand about death?
How do children of different ages understand death?
Is there something you can do to help your children through this difficult time?
Ways to help children express their feelings
How to tell the children about siblings who came before them

Something Happened – Cathy Blanford

Something Happened is a book for children whose parents have experienced pregnancy loss. The author uses a direct, yet easily understood, approach to infant death. One of the things that makes the book unique is the small box on each spread that contains helpful information for parents–ranging from explanations of what a child might be thinking to explaining why particular illustrations or words were chosen to explain the topic being addressed

Someone Came Before You – Pat Schwiebert

In Someone Came Before You, a young couple explains to their child how they had to heal after the death of their first baby in order to find room in their hearts for another. Appealing, colorful illustrations help draw children in to the story. This is a good read-aloud book for families to share.

The Fall of Freddie the Leaf : A Story of Life For All Ages – Leo Buscaglia

Originally published in the fall of 1982, the wonderfully wise and strikingly simple story of a leaf named Freddie has become one of the most popular books of our times. How Freddie and his companion leaves change with the passing seasons, finally falling to the ground with a winters snow, is an inspiring allegory illustrating the delicate balance between life and death.

The Grieving Child – Helen Fitzgerald

Explaining death to a child is one of the most difficult tasks a parent or other relative can face. The Grieving Child offers practical, compassionate advice for helping a child cope with the death of a parent or other loved one. Parents of children from preschool age to the teen years will find much-needed guidance, covering:
• Helping a child visit the seriously ill or dying
• Using language appropriate to a child’s age level
• Selecting useful books about death
• Handling especially difficult situations, including murder and suicide
• Deciding whether a child should attend a funeral
With a new chapter devoted to the special issues of the bereaved toddler, The Grieving Child provides invaluable suggestions for dealing with a child’s emotional responses (including anger, guilt, and depression) and helping a child adjust to a new life.

The Goodbye Book – Todd Parr

With Colorful illustrations and a comforting message, Todd Parr shares a story about saying goodbye to someone you love.

The Heart and the Bottle – Olliver Jeffers

Once there was a girl whose life was filled with wonder at the world around her…Then one day something happened that made the girl take her heart and put it in a safe place. However, after that it seemed that the world was emptier than before. But would she know how to get her heart back? In this deeply moving story, Oliver Jeffers deals with the weighty themes of love and loss with an extraordinary lightness of touch and shows us, ultimately, that there is always hope.

The Invisible String – Patrice Karst

A steady best-seller and The Strings are still reaching all over the World! “That’s impossible”, said twins Jeremy & Liza after their Mom told them they’re all connected by this thing called an Invisible String. “What kind of string”? They asked with a puzzled look to which Mom replied, “An Invisible String made of love.” That’s where the story begins. A story that teaches of the tie that really binds. The Invisible String reaches from heart to heart. Does everybody have an Invisible String? How far does it reach, anyway? Does it ever go away? Read all about it! THE INVISIBLE STRING is a very simple approach to overcoming the fear of loneliness or separation with an imaginative flair that children can easily identify with and remember. Here is a warm and delightful lesson teaching young and old that we aren’t ever really alone and reminding children (and adults!) that when we are loved beyond anything we can imagine. “People who love each other are always connected by a very special String, made of love. Even though you can’t see it with your eyes, you can feel it deep in your heart, and know that you are always connected to the ones you love.” Thus begins this heart-warming and reassuring story that addresses the issue of “separation anxiety” (otherwise known as the sense of existential ‘aloneness’) to children of all ages. Specifically written to address children’s fear of being apart from the ones they love, The Invisible String delivers a particularly compelling message in today’s uncertain times that though we may be separated from the ones we care for, whether through anger, or distance or even death, love is the unending connection that binds us all, and, by extension, ultimately binds every person on the planet to everyone else. Parents and children everywhere who are looking for reassurance and reaffirmation of the transcendent power of love, to bind, connect and comfort us through those inevitable times when life challenges us! Let’s tell the whole world know that we are all connected by Invisible Strings! Adopted by Military Library Services & Foster Care Agencies Recommended by Bereavement Support Groups and Hospice Centers

The Memory Box. A book about grief – Joanna Rowland

“I’m scared I’ll forget you.”

From the perspective of a young child, Jennifer Rowland artfully describes what it is like to remember and grieve a loved one who has died. The child in the story creates a memory box to keep mementos and written memories of the loved one, to help in the grieving process. Heartfelt and comforting, The Memory Box will help children and adults talk about this very difficult topic together. The unique point of view allows the reader to imagine the loss of any they have loved – a friend, family member, or even a pet. A parent guide in the back includes expert information from a Christian perspective on helping children manage the complex and difficult emotions they feel when they lose someone they love, as well as suggestions on how to create their own memory box.

The Memory Tree – Britta Teckentrup

A beautiful and heartfelt picture book to help children celebrate the memories left behind when a loved one dies.

Fox has lived a long and happy life in the forest, but now he is tired. He lies down in his favourite clearing, and falls asleep for ever. Before long, Fox’s friends begin to gather in the clearing. One by one, they tell stories of the special moments that they shared with Fox. And so, as they share their memories, a tree begins to grow, becoming bigger and stronger with each memory, sheltering and protecting all the animals in the forest, just as Fox did when he was alive.

This gentle story about the loss of a loved one is perfect for sharing and will bring comfort to both children and parents.

The Next Place – Warren Hanson

An inspirational, all inclusive, spiritual pondering about death and what happens after we die.  Appropriate for any age.

The Secret of the Dragonfly, a story of hope and promise – Gayle Shaw Cramer

Using the dragonfly’s secret, a grandmother helps her grandson understand how they will always be together. A touching and universal story that speaks to all ages and every member of the family.

The Story of Baby Rabbit – Graeme Smith, Sian Phillips, Jerri Oehler

A resource to help you talk to young children about miscarriage or stillbirth. (colouring book)

Thumpy’s Story – A Story of Love and Grief Shared – Nancy C. Dodge

Thumpy’s Story – A Story of Love and Grief Shared, is a respected resource from Share. After Thumpy’s sister dies, he must deal with the grief and many other emotions that occur when someone close dies. This book provides both adults and children with the opportunity to discuss their own feelings of love and hope following a death.

Two Little Birds – Althea Hayton

A story for young womb twin survivors, to be read together with a parent or carer. Two little birds, Birdie and Beaky, hatch out of the same egg but only Birdie is strong enough to fly. Beaky is too weak to remain with Birdie and soon disappears into a field of flowers, leaving Birdie alone. Through the medium of a single white feather, which once belonged to Beaky, Birdie is able gradually to come to terms with the loss. Complete with 14 simple, richly-coloured illustrations. Additional notes included for parents and carers, to assist them in speaking openly to a young womb twin survivor about their missing twin. Written by Althea Hayton, who is a womb twin survivor, counsellor and published author. She is founder and Chairman of Womb Twin, which is a non-profit company dedicated to helping womb twin survivors around the world. Illustrated by RaRa Schlitt, who is a spiritual folk artist, living and working in Tennessee, USA. In her work as a physical therapist she often comes across womb twin survivors. She is a published author of several children’s books.

Water Bugs and Dragonflies: Explaining Death to Children– Doris Stickney

Water Bugs and Dragonflies is a graceful fable written by Doris Stickney who sought a meaningful way to explain to neighborhood children the death of a five-year-old friend. The small book is beautifully illustrated by artist Gloria Ortiz Hernandez.

We Were Gonna Have a Baby, But We Had an Angel Instead – Pat Schwiebert, RN

This children’s book for age level 2 and up, expresses the excitement and anticipation children have at waiting for their new sibling to arrive, and the sudden, life-changing nature of an unexpected loss. The book includes a section of helpful information on how to help grieving children.

What Does That Mean? – Harold Smith and Joy Johnson

A dictionary of death, dying and grief terms for grieving children and those who love them.

What Does Dead Mean? – Caroline Jay, Jennie Thomas

“What Does Dead Mean?” is a beautifully illustrated book that guides children gently through 17 of the ‘big’ questions they often ask about death and dying. Questions such as ‘Is being dead like sleeping?’, ‘Why do people have to die?’ and ‘Where do dead people go?’ are answered simply, truthfully and clearly to help adults explain to children what happens when someone dies. Prompts encourage children to explore the concepts by talking about, drawing or painting what they think or feel about the questions and answers. Suitable for children aged 4+, this is an ideal book for parents and care givers to read with their children, as well as teachers, therapists and counselors working with young children.

When Dinosaurs Die: A Guide to Understanding Death – Laurie Krasny Brown and Marc Brown

The authors explain in simple language the feelings people may have regarding the death of a loved one and the ways to honor the memory of someone who has died.

Yours, Mine and Our Children’s Grief – Elva Mertick MSW, RSW

A wonderful explanation of how grieving a loss impacts us. Outlines how pre-school, older children and adolescents grieve and how we can recognize and assist them through the process. A valuable book for everyone, whether suffering the loss of a pet, a parent, a grandparent or any other significant loss.