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.

A Silent Sorrow – Ingrid Kohn, MSW, and Perry-Lynn Moffitt with Isabelle A. Wilkins, MD

Known for its comprehensive information and sensitive writing style, A Silent Sorrow is one of the classic help books for parents following a pregnancy loss. This newly revised second edition by Ingrid Kohn, MSW and Perry-Lynn Moffitt, includes up-to-date information on diagnosis, treatment and causes of pregnancy loss along with an abundance of coping tips for bereaved families.

Because You Care: Practical Ideas For Helping Those Who Grieve – Barbara Russell Chesser

Describes different ways to express grief, identifies its four stages, and offers practical suggestions on how to be supportive of those who grieve.

Beyond Tears: Living after Losing a Child – Ellen Mitchell 

Meant to comfort and give direction to bereaved parents, Beyond Tears is written by nine mothers who have each lost a child.  This revised edition includes a new chapter written from the perspective of surviving siblings.

The death of a child is that unimaginable loss no parent ever expects to face. In Beyond Tears, nine mothers share their individual stories of how to survive in the darkest hour. They candidly share with other bereaved parents what to expect in the first year and long beyond:
*Harmonious relationships can become strained
*There is a new definition of what one considers “normal”
*The question “how many children do you have?” can be devastating
*Mothers and fathers mourn and cope differently

*Surviving siblings grieve and suffer as well

*There simply is no answer to the question “why?”
This sharing in itself is a catharsis and because each of these mothers lost her child at least seven years ago, she is in a unique position to provide perspective on what newly bereaved parents can expect to feel. The mothers of Beyond Tears offer reassurance that the clouds of grief do lessen with time and that grieving parents will find a way to live, and even laugh again.

Finding Hope When a Child Dies: What Other Cultures Can Teach Us – Sukie Miller 

The death of a child is an overwhelming loss. “Why did my child die?” and “Is my child suffering now?” are questions that all people, of all cultures and backgrounds, ask. But characteristic of Western culture is a limited language for expressing grief, and a consuming guilt that undermines the recovery process. Dr. Sukie Miller, author of the landmark work After Death, turns to the beliefs and healing stories of other cultures to present a unique perspective that is both surprising and comforting. Sharing her research with a compassionate and grounded voice, she offers hope to those seeking meaning in what seems senseless, and heartening possibilities for returning to wholeness, even if we feel life cannot ever be the same.

For Bereaved Grandparents – Margaret Gerner

Written for grandparents following the death of any age grandchild, For Bereaved Grandparents is filled with lots of comforting words and useful suggestions. Margaret Gerner offers many insights for grandparents as they deal with their own initial grief following the death and takes a gentle look at the long road of sadness that lies ahead. This book is gentle, practical and sure to be helpful

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.

Grief One Day at a Time: 365 Meditations to Help You Heal After Loss – Alan Wolfelt

After a loved one dies, each day can be a struggle. But each day, you can also find comfort and understanding in this daily companion. With one brief entry for every day of the calendar year, this little book by beloved grief counselor Dr. Alan Wolfelt offers small, one-day-at-a-time doses of guidance and healing. Each entry includes an inspiring or soothing quote followed by a short discussion of the day’s theme. This compassionate gem of a book will accompany you.

Grief – What it is and what we can do about it – E.P. Vining

Covers feelings, issues, other people, rituals and caring for yourself.

Healing a Child’s Grieving Heart – Alan Wolfelt

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 a Parent’s Grieving Heart –  Alan Wolfelt 

The unthinkable has happened: your child has died. The normal circle of life has been broken, a senseless and tragic death has taken place and you have outlived your child. How do you go on? What can you do with your pain? Where do you turn? What do other grieving parents do not only to survive, but over time and with the support of others, to live and love fully again? With a foreword by bereaved parent and editor of Bereavement Magazine, Andrea Gambill, this book offers 100 practical ideas that have helped other grieving parents understand and reconcile their grief. Common challenges for grieving parents, such as dealing with marital stress, helping surviving siblings, dealing with hurtful advice and exploring feelings of guilt, are also addressed. Whether your child was young or an adult, whether your loss was recent or many years ago, this compassionate and easy-to-use resource will be a source of comfort and healing

Healing a Grandparent’s Grieving Heart – Alan Wolfelt

The death of a young person is never easy. But when a grandchild dies, grandparents grief doubly. They grieve for the loss of their grandchild, and they grieve for their own child, who is now a bereaved parent.

Healing Grief – Amy Hillyard Jensen

Someone you love very much has died. The pain and fear wash over you in waves. You wonder if you will survive. It is true that everything will be changed.

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

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.

Healing Your Holiday Grief – Alan Wolfelt

Grieving the death of someone loved is always hard, but during the holiday season it can seem overwhelming. Is it possible to mourn and celebrate at the same time? 

How to go On Living: When Someone You Love Dies – Therese A Rando

Mourning the death of a loved one is a process all of us will go through at one time or another.  But wherever the death is sudden or anticipated, few of us are prepared for it or for the grief it brings. There is no right or wrong way to grieve; each person’s response to loss will be different.  Now, in this compassionate, comprehensive guide,  Therese A. Rando, Ph.D., bereavement specialist and  author of Loss And Anticipatory  Grief, leads you gently through the painful but  necessary process of grieving and helps you find  the best way for yourself.

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 Munsch

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.

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.

At the heart of her approach is what she calls the T.A.0. of Family — Time, Affection, and Optimism — coupled with her deep understanding of how people move through grief. Barbara Coloroso’s clear answers to difficult questions are enriched by uplifting humor and insightful anecdotes from her own experiences as a Franciscan nun, mother of three, and her thirty years as a parenting educator. With this Guide in hand, parents can feel assured that they are responding with wisdom and love when children need them most.

Remembering With Love: Messages Of Hope For The First Year Of Grieving and Beyond – Sherokee Ilse

Provides reassurance and compassion for those struggling with a loved one’s loss.

Sufficient Grace – Kelly Gerken

Sufficient Grace chronicles not only one family’s painful journey through the stormy sea of grief after the loss of three of their five children, but also shares the lessons learned about the true faith and grace God gives to His people, even in the midst of life’s storms. It also tells about the birth of Sufficient Grace Ministries, and includes helpful information for families walking through grief after the loss of a child.

Surviving: A Journey Through Grief – The Edmonton Board of Health

Swallowed by a Snake: The Gift of the Masculine Side of Healing – Thomas R Golden

Swallowed by a Snake is a book for men and women about the masculine side of healing from loss. Discover new and powerful ways to heal. How the genders differ in their healing. Greater understanding between partners. Examples of successful and uniqueness. New ways to understand your grief. Ways the individual’s loss can impact the entire family. Swallowed by a Snake is meant to be a map and a guide trough the experience of loss. It will help you move through the pain of loss and into a place of healing and transformation.

Tear Soup – Pat Schwiebert and Chuck Decline

In this richly illustrated book, Grandy has just suffered a big loss in her life, and so she is cooking up her own unique batch of “tear soup.”

Tear Soup, gives you a glimpse into Grandy’s life as she blends different ingredients into her own grief process. Her tear soup will help to bring her comfort and ultimately help to fill the void in her life that was created by her loss. Soup is the ideal food. You can serve it as an appetizer or as the main course. With soup you can satisfy a variety of tastes and dietary needs. A thin broth works for those desiring a light meal: a thick, hearty soup satisfies the big appetite. Soups are meant to be sipped and savored, offering a culinary experience that awakens the palate. Taking soup to a sick friend can bring welcomed comfort and revitalize their spirit. Some cooking requires that you measure ingredients exactly. But making soup is different. Soup making is an art, and you are the artist. Improvising as you go, your only goal is that the blended creation will both satisfy your hunger and soothe whatever else ails you.

The Depression of Grief – Coping with sadness and knowing when to get help – Alan D. Wolfelt

Recognizing that depression is a normal and natural component of grief, this compassionate guide helps mourners understand their depression, express it in healing ways, and know when they may be experiencing a more severe or clinical depression that would be eased by professional treatment. It proposes that grieving people do not necessarily need to be diagnosed with depression following the death of a loved one and guides them through exercises to express their depression in healthy ways. In a society where mourning and melancholia are often ignored, this book gives mourners the supported and reassurance necessary to understand and appreciate that their depression is a regular part of the grieving process.

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 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 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 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 Next Happy: Let Go of the Life You Planned and Find a New Way Forward – Tracey Cleantis

When the best option is to let go of the life you planned for yourself and find a new path, a world of possibilities can surprisingly open up. Learn whether it is time to let go, and if so, how to move through your grief and find your way forward in The Next Happy.

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 UnspeakableLoss – A guide to hope and healing after the death of a child– Nisha Zenoff

Nisha Zenoff lost her son in a tragic accident when he was just seventeen years old. Now, with decades of experience as a grief counselor and psychotherapist, she offers support and guidance from her own journey and from others who have experienced the death of a child. The Unspeakable Loss helps those who mourn to face the urgent questions that accompany loss: “Will my tears ever stop?” “Who am I now without my child?” “How can I help my other children cope?” “I lost my only child, how do I live?” “Will my marriage survive?” “Will life ever feel worth living again?”

No matter where you are in your grieving process, The Unspeakable Loss provides a space to mourn in your own way, and helps you understand how the death of a child affects siblings, other family members and friends, recognizing that we each grieve differently. And while there is no one prescription for healing, Zenoff provides tools to practice the important aspects of grieving that are easily forgotten–self-compassion and self-care.

The Unspeakable Loss doesn’t flinch from the reality or pain caused by the death of a child, yet ultimately it is a book about the choice to embrace life, love, and joy again. As Zenoff writes in the Preface: “Our relationships with our children do not end with their deaths. Our relationships change, they’re transformed, but our children will always be with us.”

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.

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 Bad Things Happen to Good People – Harold Kushner

When Harold Kushner’s three-year-old son was diagnosed with a degenerative disease and that he would only live until his early teens, he was faced with one of life’s most difficult questions: Why, God? Years later, Rabbi Kushner wrote this straightforward, elegant contemplation of the doubts and fears that arise when tragedy strikes. Kushner shares his wisdom as a rabbi, a parent, a reader, and a human being. Often imitated but never superseded, When Bad Things Happen to Good People is a classic that offers clear thinking and consolation in times of sorrow.

When Dinosaurs Die: A Guide to Understanding Death – L.C. Brown & M. Brown

This book answers children’s questions and curiosities about death, emotions and customs

When Men Grieve: Why Men Grieve Differently & How You Can Help – Elizabeth Levang

Psychologist Elizabeth Levang, author of Remembering with Love, explains the special ways that men grieve so those who love them can better understand what they’re going through.

You Are the Mother of All Mothers – Angela Miller 

A message of hope for the grieving heart.

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

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.