Grief Resources

Grief Resources for Young Children and Families:

A Taste of Blackberries by Doris Buchanan Smith, 1973 Ages 8-10 (Story of a boy who dies and how his best friend copes)

Annie and the Old One by Miska Miles, 1971, Ages 5-12 (Dying Navajo grandmother teaches her granddaughter about cycles of life and death)

Badger’s Parting Gifts by Susan Varley (Animals remember their dead friend, Badger), 1984

Don’t Despair on Thursdays! by Adolph Moser Ages 4-12

Help Me Say Goodbye: Activities for Helping Kids Cope When a Special Person Dies by Janis Silverman

I Wish I Could Hold Your Hand: A Child’s Guide to Grief and Loss by Pat Palmer (This book outlines losses that children may have to deal with like moving, divorce, death or pet loss, and helps children label and express feelings about these losses)

It Must Hurt A Lot by Doris Sanford and Graci Evans, 1986 (Story of Joshua and his emotions after his pet dog dies and how he learns to help a friend whose grandpa has died)

Lifetimes: The Beautiful Way to Explain Death to Children by Bryan Mellonie and Robert Ingpen, 1983 (Tells of living and dying in the circle of life and how to live life in between birth and death)

The Fall of Freddie the Leaf by Leo Buscaglia Ages 4-14 (Uses nature as a metaphor of death and birth)

The Next Place by Warren Hanson (Inspirational journey of light and hope to a place where earthly problems are left behind)

What’s Heaven? by Maria Shriver, 1997 (Explores what heaven is, how do people get there, what is a soul and do animals and people have the same heaven or a separate heaven through the eyes of a 6 year-old whose great grandmother dies)

When Dinosaurs Die by L. Kramsny-Brown and M. Brown

Grief Resources for Adults:

Return From Tomorrow by George G. Ritchie with Elizabeth Sherrill (This is the book Fr. Mike owned and gave numerous copies away to those who were grieving)

Healing After Loss: Daily Meditations for Working Through Grief by Martha Whitmore Hickman

Turn My Mourning into Dancing: Finding Hope in Hard Times by Henri Nouwen

Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis

Good Grief: A Constructive Approach to the Problem of Loss by Granger F. Westberg

The Shack by William P. Young