Coping with Death and Dying

When People Die, by Joanne Berstein.   Explains in simple terms the reasons for death, theories on afterlife, burial practices, grief, and the naturalness of death in the chain of life.

Rudi’s Pond, by Eve Bunting.   When a sick boy dies, his friends and classmates remember him by building a schoolyard pond in his memory.

The Fall of Freddy the Leaf, by Leo Buscaglia.   An incisive, sensitive exploration of the questions of life, death, mortality, and immortality uses the leaves of a tree as symbols of enjoying life to the fullest and accepting mortality with dignity and equanimity.

Sadako, by Eleanor Coerr.   Hospitalized with the dreaded atom bomb disease, leukemia, a child in Hiroshima races against time to fold one thousand paper cranes to verify the legend that by doing so a sick person will become healthy.

Saying Goodbye to Lulu, by Corinne Demas.   When her dog Lulu dies, a girl grieves but then continues with her life.

Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs, by Tomie de Paola.   Four-year-old Tommy enjoys his relationship with both his grandmother and great-grandmother, but eventually learns to face their inevitable death.

If Nathan Were Here, by Mary Bahr Fritts.   A young boy grieves the loss of his best friend and thinks about how things would be if he were still alive.

I’ll Always Love You, by Wilhelm Hans.   A child’s sadness at the death of a beloved dog is tempered by the remembrance of saying to it every night, “I’ll always love you.”

Too Far Away to Touch, by Leslea Newman.   Zoe’s favorite uncle, Leonard, takes her to a planetarium and explains that if he dies he will be like the stars, too far away to touch, but close enough to see.

In the Piney Woods, by Roni Schotter.   Grandpa and his granddaughter spend his last summer visiting and enjoying the pine woods near their house.

What’s Heaven? by Maria Shriver.   After her great-grandmother’s death, a young girl learns about heaven by asking her mother all kinds of questions.

The Saddest Time, by Norma Simon.   In three separate stories, the author focuses on the emotions children experience when someone close to them is dying or has died and provides ways to lessen their pain.

After Charlotte’s Mom Died, by Cornelia Spelman.   Because her mom’s death causes six-year-old Charlotte to feel sad, mad, and scared, she and her dad visit a therapist who helps them acknowledge and express their feelings.

The Tenth Good Thing about Barney, by Judith Viorst.   A young boy learns to come to grips with the death of his beloved cat by writing something for his funeral.

Through the Mickle Woods, by Gregory Valiska.   After his wife’s death a grieving king journeys to an old bear’s cave in the mickle woods, where he hears three stories that help him go on living.

Badger’s Parting Gifts, by Susan Varley.   Badger’s friends are sad when he dies but they treasure the memories he left them.

Grandad Bill’s Song, by Jane Yolen.   A boy asks others how they felt when his grandfather died and then shares his own fee.