Although diverse in their ages, religions, experiences, and professions, these grieving mothers and their NICU nurse share their intensely personal stories in ways that create an incredibly universal book that will speak to readers from all walks of life. Parents who grieve the loss of a baby will find validation, hope, and consolation. Those trying to assist a loved one who has lost a baby will find understanding about parental grief and will be empowered to more effectively help their loved one experiencing this unique type of grief.

This unique and sensitive grief journal allows readers to catch — and hold — an angel: Over the past decade, this classic work has helped thousands find meaningful ways to overcome the despair of losing a loved one. Now, Angel Catcher has been revised and updated to convey its powerful message of hope to a new audience. Featuring brand new illustrations and a fresh updated look, the tasteful pages of this journal guide the user through the process of mourning and onward to a lasting sense of peace in the face of loss.

El artículo escrito por el Hospital Mattel Children’s y la Universidad de California en Los Angeles, describe las reacciones que los padres pueden presentar ante el duelo de la pérdida de un hijo. El artículo también habla de cómo los niños pueden interpretar la muerte durante las diferentes etapas de su desarrollo.

El libro el dolor de perder un hijo y el proceso de Sanidad es un conmovedor y alentador testimonio sobre la trágica experiencia de la muerte de un hijo. En este relato podrá encontrar la Fe y el consuelo necesario para atravesar situaciónes difíciles en su vida. Este libro está dedicado a todos los padres que han visto partir a su hijo con tan solo horas, días , meses o años de vida . También este libro está dedicado aquellas parejas que por años han esperado tener hijos y ese milagro parece imposible.

With compassion that comes from Sherokee and David's experience of having lived through the death of their son Brennan, the book offers guidance and practical suggestions for the decision-making at the time (including why and how one might see, hold, and memorialize one's baby) and over time (such as how to handle such times as anniversaries, holidays and the birth of other babies in the parents' close circle.) Family and friends can learn how to understand the loss and be supportive of the bereaved families. It offers ongoing support about subjects such as returning to work or to life, couple grieving, surviving children, feeling guilty, having another child or not, and feeling lonely.

The heartache of miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant death affects thousands of U.S. families every year. Empty Cradle, Broken Heart, Third Edition offers reassurance to parents who struggle with anger, guilt, and despair during and after such a tragedy. In this new and updated edition, Deborah Davis encourages grieving and strives to cover many different kinds of loss, including information on issues such as the death of one or more babies from a multiple birth, pregnancy interruption, and the questioning of aggressive medical intervention. There is also a special chapter for fathers as well as a chapter on "protective parenting" to help anxious parents enjoy their precious living children. Doctors, nurses, relatives, friends, and other support persons can gain special insight. Most importantly, parents facing the death of a baby will find necessary support in this gentle guide.

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.

Presenting simple yet highly effective methods for coping and healing, this book provides answers and relief to parents trying to deal with the loss of a child. It offers 100 practical, action-oriented tips for embracing grief, such as writing a letter to the child who has died; spending time with others who will listen to stories of grief; creating a memory book, box, or Web site; and remembering others who may still be struggling with the death.

I Never Held You is a supportive book about miscarriage, grief, healing and recovery. It is helpful for those who have just suffered a miscarriage, or for women who lost their babies years ago when there was little, if any, support. In this book are four touching stories from women who miscarried. The second half of the book focuses on things the author found helpful in healing. She says: "Take what works for you, leave what doesn't, and remember to take one day at a time. There is no time frame on grief.

In It’s OK That You’re Not OK, Megan Devine offers a profound new approach to both the experience of grief and the way we try to help others who have endured tragedy. Having experienced grief from both sides―as both a therapist and as a woman who witnessed the accidental drowning of her beloved partner―Megan writes with deep insight about the unspoken truths of loss, love, and healing. She debunks the culturally prescribed goal of returning to a normal, "happy" life, replacing it with a far healthier middle path, one that invites us to build a life alongside grief rather than seeking to overcome it.

Stories by bereaved parents after pregnancy loss coupled with stories of successful births, detailed so the reader has a helping hand coping through a subsequent pregnancy.

A Note from Dorothy: "Once in a lifetime, or maybe more, an individual enters our lives in a precious and powerful way. For some of us, the special person stays for only a moment. For others, longer. For some that child is only a brief dream, then a bittersweet memory. But each of us is somehow aware that we have experienced a small presence that will not leave us unchanged. This memory book is tenderly dedicated to the special presence of the many infants and young children who have quietly or not-so-quietly passed our way. It is yours to write in, create poems in, and place precious pictures and memories throughout. If you like, a copy of your baby's little footprints can be pasted over those on the cover."

¡Despierta a tu maternidad especial! Este es el libro que me hubiera encantado leer cuando mi primer bebé nació al cielo. En él aprenderás que puedes ser plenamente feliz después de una pérdida gestacional, neonatal o infantil. Tomarás decisiones de amor durante tu duelo, desaprenderás creencias obsoletas y nocivas, aprenderás sobre las señales y mensajes que trajo a tu vida este maravilloso ser que te eligió para ser su madre eternamente. Te invito a abrir tu mente y conocer la maravillosa maternidad que te ha sido regalada, a descubrir tu propia misión y ser intensamente feliz sabiéndote amada y elegida.

As the book opens: two-year-old Greta Greene is sitting with her grandmother on a park bench on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. A brick crumbles from a windowsill overhead, striking her unconscious, and she is immediately rushed to the hospital. But although it begins with this event and with the anguish Jayson and his wife, Stacy, confront in the wake of their daughter's trauma and the hours leading up to her death, Once More We Saw Stars quickly becomes a narrative that is as much about hope and healing as it is about grief and loss. Jayson recognizes, even in the midst of his ordeal, that there will be a life for him beyond it--that if only he can continue moving forward, from one moment to the next, he will survive what seems unsurvivable. With raw honesty, deep emotion, and exquisite tenderness, he captures both the fragility of life and absoluteness of death, and most important of all, the unconquerable power of love. This is an unforgettable memoir of courage and transformation--and a book that will change the way you look at the world.

For a woman who has experienced a miscarriage, stillbirth, or the death of an infant, conceiving another child can be fraught with mixed emotions. This guide, filled with up-to-date medical information and written by a woman who herself experienced a successful pregnancy after the loss of her first baby, can help women cope with their anxiety.

In Signs, Jackson is able to bring the mystical into the everyday. She relates stories of people who have experienced uncanny revelations and instances of unexplained synchronicity, as well as others drawn from her own experience. There’s the lost child who appears to his mother as a deer that approaches her unhesitatingly at a highway rest stop; the name written on a dollar bill that lets a terrified wife know that her husband will be okay; the Elvis Presley song that arrives at the exact moment of Jackson’s own father’s passing; and many others. This is a book that is inspiring and practical, deeply comforting and wonderfully motivational, in asking us to see beyond ourselves to a more magnificent universal design.

En este libro podrán encontrar el relato de vida de un padre que perdió a su hijo, los retos que vivió con su pareja y como lucharon por salir adelante, honrar su memoria y no hundirse en la depresión. La importancia de seguir de pie y no olvidar a las personas que todavía se encuentran con nosotros. Agradecer aún en estos momentos tan duros y tristes de nuestra vida. La mejor forma de honrar a las personas que se fueron de este mundo es viviendo.

With unflinching honesty and fearless humor, psychologist Dr. Sunita Osborn addresses the relevant but often unspoken topics following a miscarriage including the impact of miscarriage on a relationship, hating pregnant people and all things baby after miscarriage, your relationship with your body after miscarriage, and how to move forward (not past). Informed by her clinical expertise and her own personal experience with miscarriage, the Miscarriage Map offers women, their partners, and loved ones with the nitty gritty realities of a miscarriage, the accompanying emotional roller coaster, and specific steps to take to help them get through this loss.

How can we live our lives when everything seems to fall apart—when we are continually overcome by fear, anxiety, and pain? The answer, Pema Chödrön suggests, might be just the opposite of what you expect. Here, in her most beloved and acclaimed work, Pema shows that moving toward painful situations and becoming intimate with them can open up our hearts in ways we never before imagined. Drawing from traditional Buddhist wisdom, she offers life-changing tools for transforming suffering and negative patterns into habitual ease and boundless joy.

There are few books that address the weight of guilt and shame that a grieving mother carries with her after the loss of her child. The deep feeling of failure that accompanies child loss can be heart, mind and soul crippling. Reengaging in life after loss and attempting to find a sliver of hope again is an on-going battle-- one no bereaved mother should travel alone. No matter the age or cause of death, no matter the story, this book is for you, sweet mama. It's the book you can reach for in the middle of the night, when you feel like no one understands your pain. It's the book you can carry with you anywhere and everywhere, to give you a lift of hope, a sliver of light in the darkness. It's a balm for your broken heart, a comfort for your aching soul. It's an elixir to combat that feeling of failure, a way to lift your heart and soul, again and again, whenever it needs to be lifted with some gentle, loving encouragement from someone who knows. It's a way to replace the insidious lies with a truth that will resonate with all your broken pieces, a truth that will settle deep into every crevice of your being. Whether today, or years from now, some day, some how, I hope you know what I know to be true: you truly are the mother of all mothers-- a warrior mama through and through.

Best friends throughout their entire childhoods, Samantha and Julie are devastated when Julie is diagnosed with cancer the summer before their senior year, and their friendship changes in many difficult ways.

Ages: 12 to 18

Come join Rosalba and her grandmother, her abuela, on a magical journey as they fly over the streets, sights, and people of New York City which sparkles below. The story is narrated in English, and sprinkled with Spanish phrases as Abuela points out places that they explore together. The exhilaration in Rosalba’s and Abuela's story is magnified by the loving bond that only a grandmother and granddaughter can share.

Ages: 2 to 6

A beautifully written and illustrated “read-aloud” story intended for people of all ages, best for children aged six and older. Helps people find the resilience and hope within themselves; view grief as the human organism’s natural process for healing; address physical, spiritual, and emotional dimensions of grief; recognize that everyone grieves differently; and see how connections with friends, memory, and ritual can promote healing.

Ages: 6 and older

This interactive workbook contains games, puzzles, art, and stories of other children who have dealt with loss.

Using characters from the animal kingdom, this story helps children learn how sharing positive memories of a loved one can help people cope with pain and sadness and imagine life going on without the one who died. The story of how Mole, Hare, Otter and Squirrel share stories of their friend Fox illustrates how relationships continue – albeit in changed form – after someone dies.

Ages: 3 to 8

The author wrote this book, about an 11-year-old girl whose baby brother died, as she struggled to cope with her own brother’s death. It addresses questions that children have about death and dying, and provides answers from a child’s point of view.

Ages: 6 and older

Angel Catcher for Kids offers a healthy way for a child to cope with the painful and often confusing process of grieving. Designed to help a child overcome the loss of a loved one, this journal also invites the child to record precious memories of the special person who has died. Angel Catcher for Kids will help a child to catch-and hold-an angel.

All the woodland creatures—Mole, Frog, Fox, and Rabbit—love old Badger, who is their confidante, advisor, and friend. When he dies, they are overwhelmed by their loss. Then they begin to remember and treasure the memories he left them. Told simply, directly, and honestly, this uplifting story will be of tremendous value to both children and their parents. A gentle classic that can help foster communication, care, and understanding.

Ages: 4 to 9

Jess Aarons has been practicing all summer so he can be the fastest runner in the fifth grade. And he almost is, until the new girl in school, Leslie Burke, outpaces him. The two become fast friends and spend most days in the woods behind Leslie's house, where they invent an enchanted land called Terabithia. One morning, Leslie goes to Terabithia without Jess and a tragedy occurs. It will take the love of his family and the strength that Leslie has given him for Jess to be able to deal with his grief.

I hope this book will help other children understand that they are not alone in their feelings of grief, and that grieving is a normal and necessary process. Although this book is directed mainly to sibling bereavement, these feelings are common for any loss of an important person in the child’s life. Parents are encouraged to read this book together with their children to strengthen communications about feelings of grief within the bereaved family. By sharing the experiences in the book, we can all come a little closer to the real child…the child that feels…the child that hurts. Children are not paper dolls!

Ages: 9 to 15

Este libro enseña conceptos básicos sobre la muerte y ayuda a los niños a entender y expresar las diferentes emociones que experimentan cuando alguien especial muere. A medida que ellos ilustran el libro con sus propias historias, desarrollan sus habilidades de comunicación y la capacidad de confrontar la pérdida sufrida.

Nothing seems as difficult to face as a death in the family, but for young people, facing the death of a sibling is among the most painful of life’s struggles. Ruiz speaks sympathetically about the stages of emotional grief that children face after a loved one has died, and utilizes honest, descriptive narratives that illustrate how other young people have handled grief.

Ages: 12 to 17

This art therapy book helps children understand feelings of grief, learn to be sensitive to the feelings of others, and develop coping skills for the difficult times in their lives. Adults can use this book to see how children express in pictures what they are unable to express in words.

A guide to coping with the stresses and emotions arising after the death of a parent.

Ages: 12 to 15

This book, an allegory using nature, helps children understand the range of emotions (positive and negative) that accompany death resulting from a serious illness. It also illustrates the important role of memory in the healing process of grief.

Ages: 4 to 8

This book helps normalize the range of emotions that children feel when a loved one dies, from anger to sadness to acceptance, and illustrates how rituals can help children cope with loss.

Ages: 4 and up

Losing a loved one—at any age—is devastating. But if you’re a teen who has lost a sibling, this loss can feel even more so. Siblings are also lifetime playmates, confidants, role models, and friends. After losing a brother or sister, you may feel like a part of yourself is missing. You may also feel lonely, depressed, and anxious. These are all normal reactions. But even though the pain feels unmanageable now, there are ways you can start to heal.

Ages: 13 and up

This book offers many activities to help teens express emotions related to grief.

Dr. Daniel Schaefer, working with child psychologists and trauma experts, and drawing on more than three decades of experience with families in crisis, has written a practical guide for anyone who works or lives with children—parents, caregivers, counselors, or teachers—to respond to their inevitable questions about loss and change, life and death. He provides strategies to assist children with grief and trauma and offers time-tested advice and language that children can understand.

When Betsy learns about the death of a friend, her parents and kindergarten teacher answer questions about dying, funerals, and the burial process.

Ages: 5 to 9

This is a coloring and activity book, intended for use by a parent and child together. Concepts emphasized include: death as a natural part of the life cycle, answering children’s questions about death (what happens to the body, why did it happen?), and acknowledging feelings associated with grief such as sadness, fear, and anger. The book also helps children connect with memories, special days, and relationships with friends and family that help them feel better.

Ages: 3 to 8

This book normalizes feelings associated with grief and loss, help children understand death as a part of the life cycle, and encourages them to use memory, rituals, relationships, and engagement in usual activities to help them heal. The last page of the book contains excellent suggestions for how parents, school counselors, and other caring adults can use the book with children.

Ages: 3 to 8

Rosemyn’s story about the sudden death of her mother.

An inspirational and accessible guide to coping with loss includes personal stories of death and life from real teens, advice from a renowned grief counselor, and dozens of hands-on, creative exercises to help teens move through their pain.

Ages: 12 to 15

This beautifully illustrated book portrays a boy’s sadness and loneliness after his best friend dies. A parent, a teacher, and an adult neighbor help the boy formulate his questions about death and begin to heal.

Ages: 6 to 9

This story helps children understand that people grieve in different ways. After the death of their friend Eleanor the Elephant, her animal friends feel a range of emotions such as sadness, fear, anger, and guilt. Some need to play, some need to be alone, some need to talk, and some need to ask questions. The book also shows that grief can lead to personal growth. As the animals remember how Eleanor took care of them, they begin to recognize their individual strengths and talents, and to use them to help the group survive.

Ages: 4 and up

Discusses the questions, fears, and fantasies many children experience when a parent or someone close to them dies.

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.

Ages: 2 to 5

When Liplap wakes to find the ground covered with the first snow of the year, he can hardly wait to build a snowbunny. He pulls on his winter clothes and hops outside—lip lap, lip lap—as quickly as he can. But something's not right. As Liplap builds his snowbunny, he realizes that for the first time, his grandmother isn't there to help him. In this truly moving book, the heartwarming text and tender illustrations provide reassuring comfort as they remind us that the power of love and memory can transcend the sadness and confusion that comes with any kind of loss or separation.

Ages: 2 to 4

Sixteen young people ranging in age from ten to twenty-four describe the fears, sorrow, and other emotions they experienced when a brother or sister died.

Este libro cuenta la historia de Carter y su familia de camaleones y cómo trabajan los colores de dolor y amor cuando un miembro de su familia muere repentinamente. Es una historia interactiva completa con preguntas que pueden ayudarte a ti y tu niño a platicar sobre los colores de su duelo propio.

Edades: 5 a 7

Jeremy learns that his father is dying of cancer and feels trapped between grief and a required outward show of strength, and then Tess takes him in hand and helps him carry on.

Ages: 10 to 12

Through the story of a man who grieves the loss of his son, this book examines the complex, multifaceted nature of the feeling of sadness. It also shows the importance of using memory and pleasurable activities to find relief from this powerful emotion. This book could be used effectively with adolescents, but might not be appropriate for young children because it requires capacity for abstract thinking to generalize the emotional experience from the book’s specific theme, the death of a child.

Ages: Adolescents

This book targets children ages 4 to 7 and offers an anecdote in which a young girl named Molly is sad about her mother's miscarriage. Her family works through their grief together and plants a rosebush.

A fantastic midnight journey teaches two young mice that the presence of loved ones who have died is with them – in the stars, in nature, in their memories, and in their hearts. Consistent with the book’s message, the beautiful illustrations combine realism with touches of fantasy.

Ages: Any

After his older brother is killed in a car accident, sixteen-year-old Bobby tries to come to terms with some disturbing truths about his family and political corruption in their town as well as deal with his profound grief and the beginnings of first love.

My Sibling Still is written as a love letter from a sibling lost to miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant death to any surviving siblings. It walks through the emotions that a child and his or her family may experience following a loss while also depicting the loving presence of the deceased child in the family's life.

It all started at the carnival… That’s where Joey makes a new friend: a bright yellow balloon. Joey and his beloved balloon do everything together, until the balloon accidentally slips off Joey’s wrist and flies far, far away. What will Joey do without his special friend? Tiffany Papageorge has crafted a poignant tale of love, loss, and letting go that will serve as a comforting guide to children who are navigating the complicated emotions of grief. Rich, luminous illustrations by Erwin Madrid perfectly capture these timeless themes, making them accessible to even the youngest reader.

Ages: 3 to 8

When her favorite brother disappears in the desert forever, Nadia refuses to let him be forgotten, despite her father's bitter decree that his name shall not be uttered.

Ages: 2 to 6

For siblings who have a brother or sister die before birth. This storybook talks about the different feelings children have and answers some of the most asked questions.

Ages: 8 to 10

After his father dies, Kai experiences all kinds of emotions: sadness, anger, fear, guilt. Sometimes they crash and mix together. Other times, there are no emotions at all―just flatness. As Kai and his family adjust to life without Dad, the waves still roll in. But with the help of friends and one another, they learn to cope―and, eventually, heal. A lyrical story about grieving for anyone encountering loss.

A moving and eloquent chronicle of eleven children, ranging from toddlers to teenagers, who have lost family or friends shows how drawing, music, and other rituals can help the grieving process, offering creative strategies for dealing with loss.

After the death of her best friend and classmate Rudi, a young girl helps create a memorial pond and finds special comfort in the presence of a hummingbird, which reminds her of good times they shared. This book helps children see how engaging in activities in memory of the loved one can help relieve the pain of loss and forge continuing bonds.

Ages: 6 and older

For use by parents, counselors and group leaders to help children deal with feelings of pain and sadness by reassuring them that the world is safe, they are loved, and that people do feel better after loss. Helps create a space for children to express feelings, discusses the role of memory in healing, and addresses young children’s common concerns that they somehow caused the death.

Ages: 3 and older

After his father dies, Sam explains how he feels and what he can do to better his grieving process.

Ages: 6 to 8

Frightened, lonely, and angry after her father is dies in a car accident, Clare is helped through the grieving process by her mother and grandfather.

Ages: 4 to 8

This boy's journey through grief is told in both Spanish and English. It is told with colorful illustrations that allow readers to use their own active imaginations. This is a small book, filled with wisdom. It will provide much information, solace and hope for families facing such loss. A resource page for parents and professionals is included.

This book explores feelings that young children have when someone special dies, and how preserving memories helps keep the person with us after their physical presence is gone.

Ages: 4 to 9

Sophie loves her Grandpa. And her Grandpa loves Sophie. They are best friends. And then one day there is no Grandpa. . . . Family love and the natural cycle of birth, life, and death are tenderly portrayed in this moving story.

Ages: 4 to 7

After learning more about his father, who had died when he was a baby, Jonathan decides that he will sing a special song for his mother in the school Christmas pageant.

Ages: 5 to 7

This story tells the tale of Carter and his Chameleon Family and how they process the colors of their loss and love in the unexpected death of their family member. This interactive story is complete with talking points to help you and your child begin to discuss the colors of your own grieving.

Ages: 5 to 7

This sensitively-written book addresses children’s questions about what happens to the body when it dies, and the role of burial and funeral rituals in healing.

Ages: 4 to 8

Appropriate for all ages—from toddlers to adults—and featuring beautiful nature photographs throughout, this poignant, thought-provoking story follows Freddie and his companions as their leaves change with the passing seasons and the coming of winter, finally falling to the ground with winter's snow.

A young girl, grieving the loss of her mother, strives to find the giant that her mother promised would look after her. With lyrical prose her story unfolds- the seasons change, summer turns to fall, and throughout, one constant remains. The young girl does have a giant looking out for her. He's been with her all along.

Ages: 4-8

Through the lens of a pet fish who has lost his companion, Todd Parr tells a moving and wholly accessible story about saying goodbye. Touching upon the host of emotions children experience, Todd reminds readers that it's okay not to know all the answers, and that someone will always be there to support them. An invaluable resource for life's toughest moments.

This book by an art therapist and mental health counselor is for children aged six and older, with interactive activities designed to help children express both thoughts and feelings related to death and loss. Parents, counselors, can use this resource to help children cope with loss. Recommended by the National Center for Grieving Children / Dougy Center.

In this unique and compassionate guide, renowned grief counselor Helen Fitzgerald turns her attention to the special needs of adolescents struggling with loss and gives teens the tools they need to work through their pain and grief.

Ages: 15 to 19

A Chinese-American girl pays tribute to her grandfather as she assists in the preparations for his funeral.

Ages: 8 to 10

This book normalizes the range of feelings, addresses common questions children have about death, and offers children activities to help them through the process of grief after loss. It is designed for children aged 6 to 13. The National Center for Grieving Children / Dougy Center recommends this resource for any adult who is involved in helping children cope with grief.

Ages: 6 to 13

In this relatable and reassuring contemporary classic, a mother tells her two children that they're all connected by an invisible string. "That's impossible!" the children insist, but still they want to know more: "What kind of string?" The answer is the simple truth that binds us all: An Invisible 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. Does everybody have an Invisible String? How far does it reach? Does it ever go away? This heartwarming picture book for all ages explores questions about the intangible yet unbreakable connections between us, and opens up deeper conversations about love.

Ages: 3 and older

This book offers insight to understanding suicide, along with solutions to coping with death from suicide amongst teenagers.

When something sad happens, Taylor doesn't know where to turn. All the animals are sure they have the answer. The chicken wants to talk it out, but Taylor doesn't feel like chatting. The bear thinks Taylor should get angry, but that's not quite right either. One by one, the animals try to tell Taylor how to act, and one by one they fail to offer comfort. Then the rabbit arrives. All the rabbit does is listen, which is just what Taylor needs.

This book uses a child’s sadness about the death of his cat, Barney, to help address children’s feelings, questions about what happens after death, and death in the context of the cycle of life. It also illustrates the power of memory to help children heal.

Ages: 3 to 8

Elizabeth Margaret Simon was born on a Mother's Day and named for her parents' maternal grandmother. Her brother, Jack, called her Libby. Libby was born with a rare disorder and she wasn't expected to live six months. She lived three and one half years. On October 19th, 1994, Libby died. Jack was five-years-old and he struggled to understand. Jack's mom kept a diary the year after Libby's death. These are Jack's words. They are poignant, hopeful, sad and real, absolutely typical of grieving kids. Yet Jack thought no one else in the world could possibly know how he felt. Grief invites questions. Questions with no right or wrong answers. Questions with no answers at all. Questions like these. Use this book for discussion or perhaps, just for listening. Strong simple graphics and a universal story make this book appropriate for people of all ages and faiths. It is also easily translated into other languages.

Ages: 3 to 11

A book written from the point of view of a fifth grader, discussing death and a family’s reaction to it.

Ages: 10 and up

Boris von der Borch is a mean, greedy old pirate--tough as nails, through and through, like all pirates. Or is he? When a young boy sneaks onto Boris's ship, he discovers that Boris and his mates aren't quite what he expected. As it turns out, the boy is what Boris needed to help him through this difficult time.

Ages: 3 to 6

This 24-page picture book that aims to help parents explain pregnancy loss to children.

This illustrated dictionary aims to provide children with a vocabulary to ask questions about death, grief and loss, and to equip adults to provide age-appropriate explanations. The first three pages provide suggestions for how parents and others can use the book with grieving children.

Ages: 6 and older

Straightforward and comprehensive, this indispensable book is a comforting aid to help young kids and families through a difficult time in their lives. No one can really understand death, but to children, the passing away of a loved one can be especially perplexing and troublesome. This is true whether the loss is a family member, friend, or pet. Here to offer advice and reassurance are the wise dinosaurs from the bestselling Dino Tale series. This succinct and thorough guide helps dispel the mystery and negative connotations associated with death, providing answers to kids' most-often asked questions.

Ages: 2 to 5

This book, by an LICSW and registered art therapist, provides text and a framework for illustrations that are to be done by the grieving child. The text addresses death as part of the life cycle; common questions children have about death; mourning rituals and ways to think about spirituality; accepting and acknowledging emotions including anger, fear, sadness, and guilt as well as happiness and joy; and the role of memory in healing. The first three pages contain tips for adults about how to use the book with children.

Ages: 6 to 12

Uses a story format to introduce death and bereavement. Explains how death is a natural part of life, including why people die, how people express grief in different ways.

Where Are You: A Child's Book About Loss is a kind and supportive text with beautiful illustrations designed to help children of all ages cope with the loss of a loved one. It is created with love and care so that even the youngest readers will find comfort during this stressful and difficult time.

Ages: 4 to 8

This short book, illustrated delightfully by a 7-year-old artist, answers questions that young children have when a sibling dies. Topics covered include, “Where do people go when they die? What does it mean to be dead?” “Can my parents handle it if I cry or talk about missing my sibling?” “Is the death somehow my fault?” It uses simple language and a child’s point of view.

Ages: 3 to 8