[for ADULTS] [INTERMEDIATE and YOUNG ADULT] [PRESCHOOL and PRIMARY GRADES] [DEATH of a PET]

Adults

Recovering From The Loss of a Child, Katherine Fair Donnelly; Macmillan, 1982 (real
life experiences of bereaved parents and siblings and how they coped; also mentions
self-help support groups for bereaved families)

Children Die, Too, Joy and S.M. Johnson; Centering Corp, 1987 (Brief book
emphasizing feelings that occur in parents and others)

When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Harold S. Kushner, Schocken Books, 1981
(Personal view of God and His relationship to mankind’s problems written by a rabbi
whose son died after a long illness)

The Bereaved Parent, Harriet Sarnoff Schiff, Crown Pub. 1977 and Penguin Books pub
1978 (Written by a bereaved parent; offers suggestions and guidelines to help parents
cope with every aspect of experiencing a child’s death)

Explaining Death to Children, E.A. Goldman, Beacon Press, 1969 (Read-along text for
children with explanations for parents to help answer questions)

When a Baby Dies, M.J. Church, H. Chazin and E. Ewald, The Compassionate Friends,
Inc pub 1981

Songs For Sarah, P. D’Arcy, Shaw Publishers 1979

Learning to Say Good-Bye: When a Parent Dies, E. LeShan, Macmillan pub 1979
(non-fiction for children dealing with stages of grief, fear of abandonment, the funeral,
accepting loss and meeting future changes)

On Death and Dying, E. Kubler-Ross, Macmillan pub 1969

The Dying Child, W. Easson, CC Thomas pub 1970 (for adults)

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Intermediate Aged Children and Young Adults

There is A Rainbow Behind Every Dark Cloud, Ed The Center for Attitudinal Healing (a
group of seriously ill children write about their fears and attitudes about possible death)

Poems of Gitanjali, Gitanjali; Oriel Press, 1982; MacMillan 1976 (poems, mostly
religious in nature, about illness, death and dying; written by a child from India who died
of cancer at age 16)

Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson, Harper Collins, Pub., 1987 (a friend of a ten year
old accidentally dies)

Stories From a Snowy Meadow, Carla Stevens, Seabury pub 1976 (introduction to death
of one of four animals from old age that readers can handle on their own)

My Grandson Lew, Charlotte Zotolow, Harper & Row pub 1974 (six year old Lewis and
his mother share memories about his deceased grandfather)

Grandma Didn’t Wave Back, R. Blue, Franklin Watts pub 1972

Life and Death, H. Zim and S. Bleeker, William Morrow pub 1970

My Twin Sister, Erika, I-M Vogel, Harper & Row pub 1976

A Death in the Family, James Agee, Bantam pub 1998 (personal account of a teen who
loses a father from an auto accident)

Circle of Gold, Candy Dawson, Scholastic Books pub 1984 (children deal with mother’s
depression and their own grief after their father dies)

Teenagers: Face to Face with Bereavement, Karen Gravelle, Julian Messner pub 1989
(teens express their feelings)

Teenagers Talk About Grief, June Cerza Kolf, Baker Book House pub 1990

In-Between Days, Eve Bunting, Harper Collins pub 1994 (father remarries after mother’s
death)

On My Honor, Marion Dane Bauer, Bantam Doubleday Dell, New York 1987 (a friend dies and Joel must deal with the grief) 8-12 years old

If Nathan Were Here, Mary Bahr, Eerdmens Books for Young Readers, Grand Rapids, MI, 2000 (remembering the good times when a friend dies) 7-12 years old

Forever Friends, Candy Dawson Boyd, Puffin Books, New York, 1986 (African American rituals help when Toni loses a friend before school starts) 10-14 years old

When a Friend Dies: A Book for Teens About Grieving and Healing, Marilyn E. Gootman, Free Spirit press, Minneapolis, 1994 (the author and other teens give advice about coping with events and feelings) 12 years old and older

A Time for Dancing, Davida Wills Hurwin, Little Brown, Boston, 1997 (Samantha helps her long-time friend, Julia, cope with Lymphoma, a cancer that eventually kills Julia) 12 years old and older

A Separate peace, John Knowles, MacMillan, New York 1960 (Gene feels guilty about an accident suffered by his friend, Phineas. Phineas eventually dies.) 12 years old and older

Dinah Forever, Claudia Mills, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1995 (when an elderly friend dies, Dinah composes a poem for the funeral) 9-12 years old

Love Ya Like a Sister, Katie Ouriou, Tundra Books, Toronto, 1999 (this book presents emails, journal entries and letters to friends back home after a teen dies from leukemia) 12 years old and older

A Taste of Blackberries, Doris Buchanan Smith, Harper Collins, New York, 1988 (A boy must learn to cope when his daredevil friend, Jamie, dies from an allergic reaction to a beesting) 8-12 years old

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Preschool and Primary Grades

Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs, Tomie DePaola, Putnam Pub. 1973 (a 4 year old
loses his grandmother and great-grandmother)

Tell Me, Papa, Joy Johnson, Centering Corp Pub. 1978 (Useful to answer children’s
questions about what happens to the physical body after death, discussing preparation,
viewing, funeral and cemetery service)

Where’s Jess?, Joy Johnson, Centering Corp Pub. 1982 (a little girl tells about the death
of her baby brother; simple explanation)

My Brother Joey Died, Gloria H. McLendan, Messner Pub. 1982 (fictional account of a
sister who goes through the process of adjusting to her brother’s death from Reye
Syndrome; illustrated with photographs)

About Dying; An Open Family Book for Parents & Children Together, Sara Barrett Stein,
Walker Pub. 1974 (Two very young children learn about death through the death of a pet
bird and their grandfather; illustrated with photographs; has text for children and
additional text for parents)

Christmas Moon, Denys Cazet, Bradbury Pub. 1984 (Patrick Bunny misses his
grandfather on Christmas Eve; his mother helps him realize how he can help make things
better by remembering and sharing the things his grandpa taught him)

The Tenth Good Thing About Barney, Judith Viorst, Illus by Erik Blegvad, Atheneum pub
1971 (Little boy thinks of good things about his cat who died, including that he is now
helping new flowers grow); ages 4-8 years.

Badger’s Parting Gifts, Susan Varley, Lthrop, Lee & Shepard pub 1984 (Badger’s friend
learn that the things he taught them become more valuable each time they are passed on
to others)

Lifetimes: The Beautiful Way to Explain Death to Children, Bryan Mellonie and Robert
Ingpen, Bantam pub 1983 (the cycle of nature “is true for all living things”)

Why? A Book for Children on Death, Sigrid Lindemann, H. Lindemann pub 1982, (brief
text covering ways people and animals die and ways people cope with death)

The Fall of Freddie the Leaf, Leo Buscaglia, Ph.D., Holt, Rinehart and Winston pub 1982
(for all ages, life cycle includes death as a necessary step)

Everett Anderson’s Good-Bye, Lucille Clifton, Holt, Rinehart and Winston pub 1983 (a
very young child goes through the five stages of grief after his father dies)

The Dead Bird, Margaret Wise Brown, Dell Publishing, 1979 (four children find a dead bird and hold a funeral); ages 4-8 years

Annie and the Old One, M. Miles and P. Parnall, Little & Brown pub

Daddy’s Chair, Sandy Lanton, Kar-Ben Copies pub 1991 (explanation of Shiva, he week
of mourning)

Emily’s Sandhappy Season, Stefanie Lowden, Centering Corp pub 1993 ( Emily’s
feelings after losing her father)

Saying Goodbye to Daddy, Judith Vigna, Albert Whitman & Co pub 1991 (Clare is helped
through her grief by her mother and grandmother after her father dies in an auto accident; church funeral service is described)

Blow Me a Kiss, Miss Lilly, Nancy white Carlstrom, Harper and Row, 1990 (Sara cares for an elderly neighbor's cat after the neighbor dies) 4-8 years old

Bye, Mis' Lela, Dorothy Carter, Farrar, Straus andGiroux, New york, 1998 (Sugar Plum recalls all the good things after her care-taker, Mis'Lela, dies) 4-8 years old

I Had a Friend Named Peter, Janice Cohn, William Morrow and Co, New York, 1987 (Betsy is comforted by her parents and teacher after a friend dies in an auto accident) 5-10 years old

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Death of a Pet

The Tenth Good Thing About Barney, Judith Viorst, Illus by Erik Blegvad, Antheum pub
1971 (Little boy thinks of good things about his cat who died, including that he is now
helping new flowers grow)

The Dead Bird, Margaret Wise Brown, Dell Publishing, 1979 (four children find a dead bird and hold a funeral);ages 4-8 years.

The Accident, Carol Carrick, Clarion Books, 1981 (Christopher's dog is killed by a truck); ages 5-8 years.

A Fish in His Pocket, Denys Cazet, Orchard Books, 1987 (Russell, a bear, having retrieved his book from a pond, is puzzled to find a dead fish stuck between the pages); ages 4-8 years.

Jim's Dog Muffins, Miriam Cohen, Dell Publishing, 1986 (Jim's first grade class helps him deal with his dog's accidental death); ages 4-8 years.

Murphy and Kate, Ellen Howard, Simon and Schuster, 1995 (Kate learns about aging and death from the demise of her dog, Murphy); ages 7-11 years.

The Yearling, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Charles Scribner's and Sons, 1938 through 1988 (Jody Baxter learns about life's harsh realities when he must kill his pet yearling); ages 9-14 years.

Where the Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls, EMC/Paradigm Publishers, 1974 (In their dying effort, Billy's beloved coonhounds save his life); ages 9-14 years.

When a Pet Dies, Fred Rogers, GB Putnam Sons, 1988 (talking about feelings that surround the death of a pet); ages 3-8 years.

Bimmi Finds a Cat, Elisabeth Stewart, Clarion Books, 1996 (After adjusting to the loss of his beloved cat, an 8 year old boy searches for the owners of a stry he has found); ages 5-8 years.

Goodbye, Mitch, Ruth Wallace-Brodeur, A. Whitman & Co., 1995 (Michael remembers the good times he had with is cat after the cat succombs to a tumor); ages 4-8 years.

The Tenth Good Thing About Barney, Judith Viorst, Illus by Erik Blegvad, Atheneum pub
1971 (Little boy thinks of good things about his cat who died, including that he is now
helping new flowers grow); ages 4-8 years.

I'll Always Love You, Hans Wilhelm, New York Crown Pub, 1988 (A young boy deals with the old-age death of his dog by recalling saying each night, "I'll aways love you."); ages 4-7 years.

The Old Dog, Charlotte Zotolow, Harper Collins, 1995 (Ben's dog dies); ages 4-8 years.

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