Literature Resources

Parent Literature Family Literature Children’s Literature

Miscarriage/Infant Loss Focused-Based Literature Grief Journals

Parent Literature

• After the Darkest Hour the Sun Will Shine Again (Elizabeth Mehren)
• Beyond Tears: Living After Losing a Child (Ellen Mitchell)
• The Cure for Sorrow (Jan Richardson)
• Facing the Ultimate Loss: Coping with the Death of a Child (Robert Marx and Susan Wengerhoff Davidson)
• From Father to Father: Letters From Loss Dad to Loss Dad (Emily R. Long)
• Free to Grieve: A Mother’s Memoir in Black and White (Teleah Scott-Williams)
• Grieving Dads: To the Brink and Back (Kelly Farley with David DiCola)
• The Grieving Garden: Living with the Death of a Child (Suzanne Redfern and Susan K. Gilbert)
• Healing a Parent’s Grieving Heart: 100 Practical Ideas After Your Child Dies (Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.)
• It’s Ok That You’re Not Ok (Megan Devine)
• Life After the Death of My Son: What I’m Learning (Dennis Apple)
• Meaningful Moments: Ritual and Reflection When A Child Dies (Rana Limbo & Kathy Kobler)
• The Paradoxes of Mourning (Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.)
• Permission to Mourn (Tom Zuba)
• Promise Me, Dad (Joe Biden)
• Signs: The Secret Language of the Universe (Laura Lynne Jackson)
• Swallowed by a Snake: The Gift of the Masculine Side of Healing (Thomas R. Golden)

Family Literature

Supporting Surviving Children

• A Child’s View of Grief: A Guide for Parents, Teachers, and Counselors (Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.)
• The Grieving Child: A Parent’s Guide (Helen Fitzgerald)
• Guiding Your Child Through Grief (Mary Ann Emswiler and James P. Emswiler)
• Healing a Child’s Grieving Heart: 100 Practical Ideas for Families, Friends and Caregivers (Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.)
• How Do We Tell the Children? A Guide for Helping Children Cope When Someone Dies (Dan Schaefer)
• A Parent's Guide to Raising Grieving Children: Rebuilding Your Family after the Death of a Loved One (Phyllis R. Silverman/ Madelyn Kelly)
• Talking About Death: A Dialogue Between Parents and Child (Earl A. Grollman)

Grandparents

• For Bereaved Grandparents (Margaret Gerner)
• Forgotten Tears: A Grandmother’s Journey Through Grief (Nina Bennett)
• Healing a Grandparent’s Grieving Heart: 100 Practical Ideas After Your Grandchild Dies (Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.)
• When a Grandchild Dies: What to Do, What to Say, How to Cope (Nadine Galinsky)

Friend

• When Your Friend’s Child Dies: A Guide to Being a Thoughtful and Caring Friend (Julan Grant)

Supporting Those With Special Needs

• Helping People with Developmental Disabilities Mourn: Practical Rituals for Caregivers (Mark A. Markell)

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Children’s Literature

Toddlers/Preschooler

• A Terrible Thing Happened (Margaret Holmes) 
• Badger’s Parting Gifts (Susan Varley)
• I Miss You (Pat Thomas) 
• Lifetimes: A Beautiful Way to Explain Death to Children (Bryan Mellonie)
• No New Baby (Marilyn Gryte)
• The Fall of Freddie the Leaf: A Story for All Ages (Leo Buscaglia, Ph.D.)
• The Goodbye Book (Todd Parr)
• The Invisible String (Patricia Karst)
• Something Very Sad Happened: A Toddler’s Guide to Understanding Death (Bonnie Zucker)
• When Dinosaurs Die (Laurie Kesney Brown and Marc Brown)

School Age/Elementary

• After the Funeral (Jane Loretta Winsch)
• Beyond the Ridge (Paul Globe)
• A Child Remembers (Enid S. Traisman)
• The Empty Place (Roberta Temes)
• Everett Anderson’s Goodbye (Lucille Clifton)
• Gentle Willow: A Story for Children About Dying (Joyce C. Mills)
• The Goodbye Boat (Mary Joslin)
• Help Me Say Goodbye: Activities for Helping Kids Cope When a Special Person Dies (Janis Silverman)
• Lost and Found: Remembering a Sister (Ellen Yeomans)
• The Next Place (Warren Hanson)
• The Purple Balloon (Christopher Raschka)
• Tear Soup: A Recipe for Healing After Loss (Pat Schwiebert) 
• The Tenth Good Thing About Barney (Judy Voirst)
• This Book is for All Kids, but Especially my Sister Libby. Libby Died. (Jack Simon)
• We Were Gonna Have a Baby But We Had an Angel Instead (Pat Schweibert & Taylor Bills)
• What On Earth Do You Do When Someone Dies? (Trevor Romaine)
• When Someone Dies (Sharon Greelee)
• When Someone Very Special Dies: Children Can Learn to Cope with Grief (Marge Heegaard)
• Where Do People Go When they Die? (Mindy Avra Portnoy)

Middle School/Teens/Young Adults

• All That Remains: Three Stories (Bruce Brooks)
• Bridge to Terabithia (Katherine Paterson)
• The Brightest Star (Kathleen Maresh Hemery)
• The Fault in Our Stars (John Green)
• Fire in My Heart, Ice In My Veins (Enid S. Traisman)
• Healing Your Grieving Heart for Teens: 100 Practical Ideas (Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.)
• The Healing Your Grieving Heart Journal for Teens (Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.)
• Help For the Hard Times: Getting Through Loss (Earl Hipp)
• Helping Teens Cope with Death (The Dougy Center for Grieving Children)
• How it Feels When a Parent Dies (Jill Krementz and Alfred Knopf)
• Reactions: A Workbook to help young people who are experiencing trauma and grief (Alison Salloum)
• The Scar (Charlotte Moundlic and Oliver Tallec)
• The Saddest Time (Norma Simon)
• Straight Talk about Death for Teenagers (Earl Grollman)
• Weird is Normal When Teenages Grieve (Jenny Lee Wheeler)
• When A Friend Dies: A Book for Teens About Grieving and Healing (Marilyn Gootman)
• When Death Walks In (Mark Scrivani)
• When Someone Very Special dies: Children Can Learn to Cope with Grief (Marge Heegaard)

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Miscarriage/Stillbirth/Infancy

• About What Was Lost (Jessica Berger Gross)
• Always Within; Grieving the Loss of Your Infant (Melissa Eshleman)
• An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination (Elizabeth McCracken)
• Empty Cradle, Broken Heart (Deborah L. Davis)
• Free to Grieve: Healing and Encouragement for Those Who Have Suffered Miscarriage and Stillbirth (Maureen Rank)
• A Gift of Time: Your Pregnancy When Your Baby’s Life is Expected to be Brief (A.Kuebelbeck, D.L. Davis)
• Grieving the Child I Never Knew (Kathe Wunnenberg)
• Help, Comfort, & Hope: After Losing Your Baby in Pregnancy or the First Year (Hannah Lothrop)
• The Invisible Pregnancy: Give Birth to Healing (Heidi Faith)
• Parenthood Lost (Michael R. Berman M.D.)
• Saying Goodbye Without Saying Hello (Marcy Rachel and RaeBeth McGee)
• A Silent Sorrow Pregnancy Loss: Guidance & Support for You and Your Family (Ingrid Kohn & Perry-Lynn Moffitt)
• Something Happened (Phyllis Childers)
• Still (Stephanie Paige Cole)
• Waiting with Gabriel: A Story of Cherishing a Baby’s Brief Life (Amy Kuebelkeck)

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Focused-Based Literature

Cancer

• Am I Still a Sister? (Alicia Sims)
• Hannah’s Gift (Maria Housdan)
• Phoenix Rising (Cynthia Grant)

Car Accident

• The Empty Place (Roberta Temes)
• Dusty Was My Friend (Andrea Fleck Clardy)

Military Loss

• Healing Your Grieving Heart After a Military Death ( Bonnie Carroll and Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.)
• The Hero in My Pocket (Marlene Lene)

Suicide

• Dying to Be Free: A Healing Guide for Families After Suicide (Beverly Cobain)
• Finding Peace without All of the Pieces: After A Loved One’s Suicide (LaRita Archibald)

Murder/Violent Death

• What to do When the Police Leave: A guide to the first days after traumatic loss (Bill Jenkins)
• No Time for Goodbyes: Coping with sorrow, anger, and injustice after a tragic death (Janice Harris Lord)
• A Grief Like No Other: Surviving the violent death of someone you love (Kathleen O’Hara)

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Grief Journals

• Grief Doodling: Bringing Back Your Smiles (Harriet Hodgson)
• Help Me Say Goodbye: Activities for Helping Kids Cope When a Special Person Dies (Janis Silverman)
• How I Feel: Grief Journal for Kids (Mia Roldan)
• How to Carry What Can’t Be Fixed: A journal for grief (Megan Devine)
• The Memory Book: A Grief Journal for Children and Families (Joanna Rowland)
• On Coming Alive: Journaling Through Grief (Lexi Behrndt)
• When Someone Very Special Dies: Children Can Learn to Cope with Grief: Drawing Out Feelings (Marge Heegaard)

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