"Grief is a Mess is an illustrated book for grieving kids, teens, and adults who need a healthy dose of understanding, comfort, and laughter. With over 40 watercolor illustrations, it shows that although there may be no straightforward map through grief, there can still be laughter and positive experiences amidst the mess."
"Parents, educators, therapists, and social workers alike have declared The Invisible String the perfect tool for coping with all kinds of separation anxiety, loss, and grief. In this relatable and reassuring contemporary classic, a mother tells her two children that they're all connected by an invisible string. "That's impossible!" the children insist, but still they want to know more: "What kind of string?" The answer is the simple truth that binds us all: An Invisible String made of love. Even though you can't see it with your eyes, you can feel it deep in your heart, and know that you are always connected to the ones you love. Does everybody have an Invisible String? How far does it reach? Does it ever go away? This heartwarming picture book for all ages explores questions about the intangible yet unbreakable connections between us, and opens up deeper conversations about love."
"This honest, sensitive and beautifully illustrated picture book is designed to help explain the concept of death to children aged 3+. Written in Alex’s own words, it is based on the real-life conversations that Elke Barber had with her then three-year-old son, Alex, after the sudden death of his father."
"Otter, Mole, Fox and Hare live happily together in their house in the woods. But soon Fox falls ill. He grows sad and thin and one day his friends find him still and cold in the forest. Otter, Mole and Hare bury Fox and are very sad thinking about all the things they miss about him. As the seasons change the three friends can not stop feeling sad about losing Fox. Then one day Squirrel comes to visit and helps them remember the good times they had with Fox – they laugh for the first time in a long while. The friends decide to make a special garden for Fox and enjoy sitting in it recalling happy times. As they laugh they feel they can hear Fox laughing too and in their hearts and memories Fox is still there, always and forever."
"Newly grief-stricken parents shoulder an overwhelming task – finding words to ease their surviving children into the reality of a sibling death. Sad about Sammy is a first response book designed to assist families. It offers read-aloud text and engaging, colorful illustrations for young children coupled with helpful parent information geared toward navigating delicate matters of sibling grief. The dual-sided approach to telling the story allows for two completely different, yet parallel experiences to happen side by side, parent and child. "
"When the boy in this story wakes to find that his mother has died, he is overwhelmed with sadness, anger, and fear that he will forget her. He shuts all the windows to keep in his mother’s familiar smell and scratches open the cut on his knee to remember her comforting voice. He doesn’t know how to speak to his dad anymore, and when Grandma visits and throws open the windows, it’s more than the boy can take–until his grandmother shows him another way to feel that his mom’s love is near."
"Coen is having a sniffling, sighing, sobbing kind of day.
His family thinks they know how to cheer him up. His dad wants to go outside and play, Mom tells her funniest joke, and his little sister shares her favorite teddy. Nothing helps. But one by one, they get quiet and begin to listen. After some time, space, and reassurance, Coen is able to show them what he needs."
"Abigail’s dark cloud follows her everywhere. It can be a ball of worries, a swirl of fog or a long shadow. But it’s always with her, making other children distant, getting in the way at ballet class and even taking away her appetite. Then Abigail begins to understand some things about her dark cloud. Like how it’s not always the same size. How she can trap it in a sandcastle. And how, sometimes, she can even step away from it and feel the sunshine on her skin."
"Portraying sadness as a visitor that you shouldn’t be afraid of, this book makes it easier for kids to imagine the emotion as something outside themselves. When sadness arrives, the main character still reads, plays, and decides sadness doesn’t want to stay indoors. “The idea of continuing to do things with sadness is important,” says an expert from the Child Mind Institute. “It’s something that’s with the child, but doesn’t define them.” Ages 3–8."
"This book explains, in realistic but reassuring language, why people die and how hard it can be to say goodbye. The real genius: “What About You?” boxes scattered throughout the book that contain questions you can ask children. “I particularly like that it normalizes the sad feelings around death,” says an expert at the Child Mind Institute. Ages 4-8."
