Bibliotherapy- Grief and Death

Written by Kristin Tallackson, M.A., LPC (OH), LPC-Intern (TX)

Bibliotherapy is a creative art therapeutic approach that uses literature to aid in the therapy process. Children’s books can be an excellent clinical tool to support children’s exploration and understanding of their world and life experiences. This is a great tool I often give to parents in order to continue the therapeutic work outside of the office. Many children identify with the characters in the book because they are overcoming the same obstacles. Over the next few weeks, I am going to provide a list of books that can help kids over come different obstacles from anger to ADHD. Today we are tackling grief and death.

Books:

The Goodbye Book by Todd Parr

Something Very Sad Happened by Bonnie Zucker

The Invisible String by Patrice Karst

Sammy in the Sky by Barbara Walsh

Bear’s Last Journey by Udo Weingelt

Always and Forever by Alan Durant

Don’t Despair on Thursdays! by Adolph Moser (Ages 4-9)

The Fall of Freddie the Leaf by Leo Buscaglia (Ages 5-adult)

Goodbye Mousie by Robert Harris (Ages 3-8)

I Miss You by Pat Thomas (Ages 4-8)

The Next Place by Warren Hanson (Ages 5-adult)

Scat by A. Dobrin (Ages 5-9)

A Season for Mangoes by R. Hanson (Ages 5-9)

Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs by T. DePaola (Ages 5-13)

Bluebird Summer by D. Hopkinson (Ages 6-11)

Annie and the Old One by M. Miles (Ages 6-12)

Felita by N. Mohr (Ages 7-11)

Grandma’s Scrapbook by J. Nobisso (Ages 7-12)  

Workbooks:

Tear Soup by Chuck Deklyen and Pat Schwiebert

Sad Isn’t Bad: Grief Guidebook for Kids Dealing with Loss Series by Michaelene Mundy (Ages 5-8)

When Dinosaurs Die: A Guide To Understanding Death by Laurie Krasny Brown and Marc Brown (Ages 3-9)

If you are struggling to process your grief, contact us to learn more about how life transitions counseling can help.