Eva Eland’s book “When Sadness is at Your Door” personifies the feeling of sadness. Instead of blocking out hard feelings, she encourages you to open the door to sadness, invite it inside, and learn how to include it in healthy ways. Maybe you color with your sadness or snuggle up and watch a movie. Whatever it is, you can cope with it!
One of our favorite books is Patrice Karst’s “The Invisible String,” which tells all about how we are connected to our loved ones, even after they die. Now Karst has come out with another amazing resource, this time for pet loss, called “The Invisible Leash!” The reader is reminded that our four-legged loved ones always stay connected to our hearts!
Jacqueline Woodson’s “Before the Ever After” tells the story of ZJ and his father, a town legend and professional football player. Over time, ZJ notices that his dad’s moods are changing, his memory is slipping, and ZJ learns that his dad has sustained head injuries that altered his personality. ZJ’s story is about how he learns to cope with this new life, and how he can find new ways to connect with his father.
Mason Deaver’s “The Ghosts We Keep” tells the story of teenage boy Liam, whose older brother was killed in a car accident. As Liam’s world swirls and spins around him, he ends up finding comfort with his brother’s best friend. This young adult novel captures the real feelings of adolescent grief and would be a great book for your tween or teen to borrow!
After someone we love dies, it is not uncommon to receive an ADC, or an After Death Communication. In their book “Hello from Heaven!” Bill and Judy Guggenheim compile years of people’s first-hand experiences with ADCs. This book is a comforting and gentle read for those of us who need a reminder that our relationships don’t end with death!
Experiencing a loss can bring about a whirlwind of emotions. When the feeling of relief enters in, it can bring with it shame and misunderstanding. Jennifer Elison’s Liberating Losses: When Death Brings Relief provides readers with a judgment-free journey into what this relief means, and how we can express it.
The death of a friend can often be a disenfranchised loss in that your grief is not as widely recognized as the grief of the family. Harold Ivan Smith’s Grieving the Death of a Friend recognizes the impact of this type of loss and gives hope to the reader that you are not alone in your healing.
A favorite of Development Director Michelle, Saxton Freymann’s book How Are You Peeling? is a fun and hilarious way to teach your child about emotions! Each food in the book has a different emotion, and it’s up to your child to decide how they think the foods are feeling (or, peeling)!
It can often be our instinct to use euphemisms or flowery phrases to describe death, but what children need from us is direct, humanized interactions. In Anastasia Higgenbottom’s Death is Stupid! our young narrator informs the adults in his world exactly how he feels about death, which opens up beautiful conversation!
In Kathe Martin Copeland’s Mama’s Going to Heaven Soon, a little girl learns that her mom has terminal cancer. Her father finds all the right words to tell her what is happening, and that makes this book a perfect guide for any parent who is preparing their child for the death of a loved one.
