Grief Resources for Families

Books for Elementary Children:

Books for Older Elementary/Middle School

My Father’s Words by Patricia MacLachlan. A pair of siblings process the loss of their father with the help of their mom, neighbor friend, and finding ways to help others.

Books for Adults to Help Children Process Grief

The Grief Tower by Lauren Wells. This book provides a framework for helping kids and parents unpack losses, fears, crises, significant events, and periods of anxiety/depression. 

When Children Grieve: For Adults to Help Children Deal with Death, Divorce, Pet Loss, Moving, and Other Losses by J. W. James & R. Friedman. There are guidelines for helping children develop a lifelong, healthy response to loss.The authors wrote this book to free children from the false idea of “not feeling bad” and to empower them with positive, effective methods of dealing with loss.

Online Resources

The Child’s Loss: Death, Grief, and Mourning by Dr. Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D.. Covers loss due to transitions and such and discusses the role of the teacher and gives some specific guidelines for dealing with loss in the classroom.

Coping with the Death of Your Pet. Covers the stages of grief with special information about helping both children and senior adults deal with the loss of a pet.

Death and Loss: Helping Children Manage Their Grief by Dr. Bruce Perry. Includes information about the grieving process and some good tips for talking about loss with children.

Dougy Center: National Center for Grieving Children & Families

Hope Family Care Ministries - for families who have lost a child

Personal Resources

A Grace Disguised: How the Soul Grows through Loss by Jerry Sittser. Loss came suddenly for Jerry Sittser. In an instant, a tragic car accident claimed three generations of his family: his mother, his wife, and his young daughter. While most of us will not experience such a catastrophic loss in our lifetime, all of us will taste it. And we can, if we choose, know as well the grace that transforms it.

A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis. Written after his wife’s tragic death as a way of surviving the “mad midnight moment,” A Grief Observed is C.S. Lewis’s honest reflection on the fundamental issues of life, death, and faith in the midst of loss.