Reading children’s books during a time when your child is grieving can bring comfort to them and help give adults ways to talk about grief in new ways. Below are a few of our recommendations when a child is grieving. Learning how a child understands death through their developmental levels can help guide a conversation.
When Old Turtle dies and is taken back by the sea, his friends remember that he was a wonderful teacher and friend who made his world a better place.
For Grades Pre-Kindergarten-2
A boy grieves for his dead pet Mousie, helps to bury him, and begins to come to terms with his loss.
For Grades Pre-Kindergarten-2
When Jim’s dog is killed, the other first graders experience with him his natural reactions to death.
For Grades Pre-Kindergarten-2
This gorgeous picture-book meditation on loss and family love is a useful tool for children navigating a first experience with death.
For Kindergarten
When a young African-American boy finds his old dog dead one morning, he spends the rest of the day thinking about all the good times they had together.
For Grades Kindergarten-2
In a land that has stood barren, parched by drought and ravaged by frosts since the Queen’s death, the King sets his three daughters the task of making the kingdom bloom again, and discovers that sometimes the smallest things can make the biggest difference.
For Grades 1-3
When they find a dead bird, a group of children buries it in the woods, sings a song to it, and puts flowers on the grave.
For Grades Pre-Kindergarten to 2
Jules and Jim are best friends. They play together. They go to school together. They grow up together. Through it all, Jim is always a little ahead of Jules-a little faster, a little stronger. So, when Canada goes to war against Germany in 1914, Jim is the first to volunteer, but Jules is right behind him. They fight together. They battle the cold and the mud of the trenches together. But in the end, only one of them will see the Armistice begin at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. A poignant tale of friendship, The Eleventh Hour is also a story about life, death, and the horrors and futility of war.
For Grades 4-12
When Arthur’s dog Daisy dies, she watches over him from heaven and eventually helps him find a new puppy.
For Grades Pre-Kindergarten to 2
This blog post was created by librarians from Park City Library with help of information found in NoveList – a database which is free with your library card. NoveList is a comprehensive reading recommendation resource.