Helpful Children's Books about Grief

Talking with children about death is one of the most challenging and painful things I have ever had to do. I will write another post on how I told my 3-year-old son that his daddy had died very unexpectedly. This post is to share with you some helpful books that we have used in the days and weeks after loosing my husband.

What Is Heaven Like? by Beverly Lewis

I love this book! It is a beautifully illustrated (by Pamela Querin) story about a boy who's grandfather dies. Each page is about the boy asking a different person about what heaven is like. Each answer tells us about what we will see and do in heaven. The thing I love most about this book is that each page has a scripture on the bottom that is the basis for each idea about heaven. It ends with discussing how a person gets to heaven - by loving and trusting Jesus. 

Help Me Say Goodbye by Janis Silverman

My sweet friend Kim sent me this book shortly after Barry died. It is an activity book to help children process and cope with the death of a loved one. Each page gives an activity for the child to draw or write about different feelings and memories the child has about their loved one. Here is an example of one of the activities my son and I did together:

Instructions: Draw your special someone. What do you like to do with your special someone?

(Since Will is 3, he's learning how to draw. He would tell me what to draw - "Momma, draw daddy's head," and he would add the eyes and mouth or color objects in. The pictures of the things Will liked to do with daddy were drawn my me, as dictatcted by Will.)