Death and Grieving Information
Book Resource List
- Adolescence and Death - McNeil and Corr - Explores the meaning and significance of the ways in which adolescents encounter death, dying and bereavement.
- After Goodbye - Ted Menten - How to begin again after the death of someone you love. Easy to read and gives some helpful suggestions on dealing with thoughts and feelings.
- Eric - Doris Lund - This book is about the four years the author's son went through after he found out that he had acute lymphocytic leukemia.
- Fire in My Heart, Ice in My Veins: A Journal for Teenagers Experiencing Loss - Enid Samuel Traisman and Ben Seiff, Ill. - A grieving journal for teenagers where they can privately record the details of their relationships, the death, their loss and the profound effect it is having on their life.
- Good Grief Rituals - Elaine Childs-Gowell - Suggestions for meaningful rituals to mark the death of someone you love.
- Healing Your Grieving Heart for Teens - Dr. Alan D. Wolfelt - 100 practical ideas to help with healing in grief.
- Hello from Heaven - Bill Guggenheim & Judy Guggenheim - Over 350 first-hand accounts of After-Death Communication from people who have died to their surviving loved ones. Inspiring and touching stories that bring hope to the bereaved.
- Help for the Hard Times: Getting Through Loss -Earl Hipp - A modern, cartoon-style book written in a user friendly format.
- Hold Me Tight - Beth Jameson - A story written by the mother of a fourteen-year-old who dies of leukemia.
- Straight Talk About Grief for Teenagers - Dr. Earl Grollman - Suggests ways to deal with the grief and other emotions felt after the death of a loved one and discover how to go on living.
- Teenagers Face to Face with Bereavement - Karen Gravelle and Charles Haskins - With special understanding because they've been through it all, seventeen young adults discuss the deaths of parents, siblings and friends in this sensitive and caring book.
- Teenagers Talk About Grief - June C. Wolf - Teens talk about their experiences with death, the funeral, going back to school and the emotions felt while grieving.
- The Creative Journal for Teens: Making Friends with Yourself - Lucia Capacchione - Offers easy techniques on journal writing that enable teens to understand their innermost feelings and express the real person inside.
- A Formal Feeling - Zibby Oneal - Anne, home from boarding school, finds it hard to accept her new stepmother's presence in the house that holds memories of her dead mother. A Matter of Time Roni Schotter A social worker helps a sixteen-year old girl work through her feelings about the death of her mother.
- A Ring of Endless Light - Madeleine L'Engle - In one summer, sixteen-year-old Vicki faces her beloved grandfather's terminal illness, helps a mood and lonely friend recover from a suicide attempt, befriends a boy whose father just died, and falls in love.
- After the Rain - Norma Fox Mazer - After discovering her grandfather is dying of cancer, fifteen-year-old Rachel gets to know him better than ever before and find the experience bittersweet.
- Clover - Dori Sanders - After her father dies within hours of marrying a white woman, a ten-year-old black girl learns with her new mother to overcome grief and to adjust to a new place in their rural black South Carolina community.
- Early Winter -Howard Bronson - A young man describes his grief at the death of his father.
- How it Feels When a Parent Dies - Jill Krementz -Eighteen children and teens (7-16 yr.) tell, in their own words, what it means to have a parent die. They express their feelings, tell what happened, what hurt, what was confusing, what helped.
- Mama's Going to Buy You a Mockingbird - Jean Little - Jeremy and Sarah only learn that their father is dying from cancer by overhearing someone talking about it.
- Motherless Daughters - Hope Edelman - A comprehensive study of the effect of the death of a mother on daughters of all ages. Appropriate for older teens.
- My Brother Stealing Second - Jim Naughton - Bobby's brother and Annie's parents die in a car accident involving alcohol. They support each other as they deal with their feelings of anger and shame.
- Of Love and Death and Other Journeys - Isabelle Holland - A fifteen-year old girl's struggle for acceptance by her father after her mother's death.
- Rear-View Mirror - P. Fleischman - After visiting her father for the first time, Olivia must deal with his sudden death. Only then does she realize her own self-worth.
- The Eagle Kite - Paula Fox - Liam is told his father has AIDS from a blood transfusion and he know this is not true. Liam struggles to build a relationship with his father and mother and deal with his feelings.
- Tiger Eyes - Judy Blume - This fictionalized account of a teenager whose father has just been killed provides a wonderful analysis of normal feelings. With You and
- Without You - A.M. Martin - This book is about the reactions of parents and four children in a family when the father is told that he will die in the next six to twelve months as a result of an inoperable heart condition
- You Shouldn't Have to Say Goodbye - P. Hermes - When thirteen-year-old Morrow hugs her mother one dreary afternoon, it's clear that something is wrong. Day later, Sarah's mom checks into the hospital and is diagnosed with inoperable cancer.
- After Suicide - Eileen Kuehn - Format includes Teen Talk, Fast Facts, Q&A, photographs, chapter summaries
- Dead Birds Sing - Marc Talbert - A powerfully moving novel dealing with the devastation a seventh grade boy feels after a car accident in which his mother and sister die.
- When a Friend Dies - Marilyn E. Gootman - An easy to read but informative book about feelings and responses to loss. Includes quotations from grieving teens.
- Where the Red Fern Grows - Wilson Rawls - Classic tale of a boy and his two beloved hunting dogs. Both dogs die from wounds received while fighting a mountain lion to save Billy.
- Helping Teens Cope with Death - The Dougy Center - Helpful on how to find and use help for traumatic death.
- How Could You Do It Diane? - Stells Pevsner - Bethany struggles to find the reasons why her sister dies by suicide, while her parents try to ignore it.
- Losing Someone You Love: When a brother or sister dies - Elizabeth Richter - Sixteen young people ranging in age from 10 to 24 describe the fears, sorrow and other emotions they experienced when a brother or sister dies. Ages 10 and up.
- Loving Ben - Elizabeth Laird A teenaged girls' experience of the death of her chronically ill brother and her changing ideas about character in her friends.
- My Mother's Ghost - Margaret Buttie - Sixteen-year-old Jess and her family moved to the ranch after the death of her brother
- Signs of Life - Jean Ferris - Hannah and Molly are identical twins but personality opposites. Molly dies in a car accident and Hannah is left as an only child at the age of sixteen. Hannah and her parents spend a vacation in France trying to come to terms with their grief.
- Straight from the Siblings: Another look at the rainbow - Gloria Murray and G.G. Jampolsky - The reactions of brothers and sisters to the life-limiting illness of their sibling are described in their own words. They talk of their fears, guilt and jealousies. They offer thoughts for getting on with life. Ages 8 and up.
- A Ring of Endless Light - Madeleine L'Engle - In one summer, sixteen-year-old Vicki faces her beloved grandfather's terminal illness, helps a mood and lonely friend recover from a suicide attempt, befriends a boy whose father just died, and falls in love.
- A Time for Dancing - David Hurwin - Two young women are best friends and make plans for the future, which changes abruptly when one gets cancer. The story shows their friendship and support as they share their anger and say goodbye.
- Bridge to Terabithia - Katherine Paterson - Leslie and Jesse have a special friendship, and create a magic place for themselves, Terabithia. When Leslie dies in an accident, Jesse feels lonely and guilty until he begins to share with his sister.
- Close Enough to Touch - Richard Peck - Seventeen-year-old Matt is devastated when his girlfriend dies very suddenly.
- Face at the Edge of the World - Eve Bunting - Jed feels responsible when his best friend, Charlie, dies by suicide. As Jed and his girlfriend search for the reasons for Charlie's desperate unhappiness, he comes to terms with his grief and guilt.
Disclaimer
This is NOT a real bereavement service provider. Please contact the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization or the National Hospice Foundation to find a hospice organization near you.
To view Developing an Online Community for Grieving Adolescents project here.