Book Recommendations for Little Grievers
As publishers release more books for our youngest grievers, I'd like to highlight some that I love to recommend. These are top of my list because they are easy to find in the public library too!
Oliver Jeffer’s The Heart & the Bottle addresses a question kids face in many ways: when someone who sees your wonder is no longer in your life, how do you move forward?
The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld is near and dear to my heart. I will never forget the way my client’s proudly offered me this book as their child died as the one they’d found most helpful in speaking to their own grief and communicating what loving them looked like on their journey.
Elon Kelly and Soybean Kim created a Last Goodbye as a non-fiction look at how animals face death and live with grief. For children fascinated by the natural world, this is a beautiful, gentle selection.
One of my favorite children’s book writers is Stephanie Lucianovic @grubreport (check out my podcast episode conversation with her!) and The End of Something Wonderful is a practical guide to backyard funerals that can introduce children to death, burial, and grief from pets to grandparents.
My husband found Cry, Heart, But Never Break, by Glenn Ringtved for our children when they were beginner readers and the imagery of Death as a sweet, blue-eyed elder has stuck with us. What if children are introduced to Death as a friend who must come to take us home instead of a horrible image of the Grim Reaper?
Last, Matt Haig’s @mattzhaig books speak to grief in thousands of different ways and this picture book The Truth Pixie, is another variation for older kids. “There will be people you love, who can’t stay forever, And there will be things you can’t fix, Although you are clever. But listen hard, and listen good. Life might not go as it should, But you are young and your life will be magic. It will be happy, and funny, and sometimes tragic.” How powerful and truth-filled these words are.
#deathliteracy #deathdoulareads #childrensbooks#griefbooks #griefreads #deathdoula #deathmidwife#booktok #bookrecommendati
