When a child is moving through grief after the death of a loved family member, friend, or pet, they need time with loving adults who give space and safety for expressing the many feelings that come with a loss. Reading books together is a simple and powerful way to give a child that space, and give you both some words and images to use to talk and think about your feelings.
As part of a project for Educator’s Neighborhood, a group of children’s librarians created this collection of books to act as a comfort and companion for you and the grieving child in your life. There are numerous books that address grief in children, and this list was curated to include those that feature human characters as the main protagonists. All of the books on the list are best read alongside your child. The librarians shared, “We want our book list to support the use of books as windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors, allowing children to see both themselves and others in the stories they read.”
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