Grief Library

Holidays and Special Events

  • Healing Your Holiday Grief: 100 Practical Ideas

    By Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.

    Ideas to help the bereaved mourn, celebrate and heal as they keep treasured holiday traditions and create meaningful new ones.
    110 pages

  • Holiday Blues: A Self-help Manual on Grief Through the Holidays

    By Dr. Clarence Tucker

    Easy-to-read booklet to help grievers manage their grief during the holidays and on other special occasions.
    31 pages

  • Thoughts for the Holidays: Finding Permission to Grieve

    By Doug Manning

    Shares special ways to cope, remember and survive the hurdles that the holiday season can present.
    22 pages

Adults Helping Children

  • A Child’s View of Grief: A Guide for Parents, Teachers and Counselors

    By Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.

    Concise, informative guide that explains how children grieve. A must-read for adults who want to help young people cope with grief.
    54 pages

  • A Teacher’s Guide to the Grieving Student

    By Hospice of Lancaster County

    A useful pamphlet for teachers or anyone working with schools. Includes common reactions to grief, types of loss and guidelines and suggestions of books and articles about grief for children and adults.
    33 pages

  • Bereavement Counseling in the School Setting

    By Luciano Sabatini

    Guidance for school-based professionals on how to assist bereaved students through grief and best practices for a school grieving the death of a student.
    114 pages

  • Grief Comes to Class: An Educator’s Guide

    By Majel Glido-Braden

    Assists school personnel with how to be caregivers for bereaved students.
    48 pages

  • The Grieving Student: A Teacher’s Guide

    By David J. Schonfeld and Marcia Quackenbush

    Practical guidebook for teachers in providing sensitive support to students of all ages.
    184 pages

  • Great Answers to Difficult Questions About Death: What Children Need to Know

    By Linda Goldman

    Explores children’s thoughts and feelings about death and provides guidance on how to respond to their questions with sensitive, honest, age-appropriate answers.
    110 pages

Dealing With Bereavement

  • The Art of Helping Others: Being Around, Being There, Being Wise

    By Heather Smith and Mark K. Smith

    Provides guidance in developing the capacity and the process for helping others; written especially for those committed to youth work, community education, ministry and counseling.
    173 pages

  • Building Memories: Planning a Meaningful Funeral

    By Doug Manning

    Answers consumer questions about funerals – from “Why have a funeral?” to “What choices do we need to make?”
    47 pages

  • Creating Meaningful Funeral Experiences: A Guide for Caregivers

    By Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.

    Insights and information about planning meaningful funeral ceremonies. Explores reasons why consumer attitudes toward funerals have changed.
    80 pages

  • Creating Meaningful Funeral Ceremonies: A Guide for Families

    By Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.

    An inspiring guide that helps families make decisions about the funeral they want and work with the funeral director to plan it.
    80 pages

  • The Good Funeral: Death, Grief and the Community of Care

    By Thomas G. Long and Thomas Lynch

    Two of the most authoritative voices in the funeral industry, a preacher and a funeral director, discuss the current state of the funeral and the challenges facing “the good funeral,” including exclusion of the body and the growth of cremation.
    237 pages

  • Grievers Ask: Answers to Questions About Death and Loss

    By Harold Ivan Smith, Ph.D.

    Presents clear responses to more than 150 common questions asked by grievers and examines the emotions behind questions about death and loss.
    200 pages

  • Healing a Friend’s Grieving Heart: 100 Practical Ideas

    By Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.

    Creative suggestions to help individuals reach out to help a grieving friend.
    104 pages

  • Healing Grief

    By Victor M. Parachin

    Dispels common myths about grief and offers practical advice, encouragement and real-life examples to help the bereaved understand and cope with grief. Special guidance for men included.
    74 pages

  • Healing Your Grieving Heart: 100 Practical Ideas

    By Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.

    Help for anyone going through a healthy process of grieving.
    105 pages

  • Sacred Moments: A Minister Speaks About Funerals

    By Doug Manning

    Shares some of the profound lessons the author has learned while walking with people on their grief journeys.
    31 pages

  • When Your People Are Grieving

    By Harold Ivan Smith

    Help for pastors in assisting grievers during trying times.
    176 pages

For Children

  • Angel Birthdays: A Day to Remember. A New Way to Heal. A Celebration of Life.

    By Erin Garay

    Encourages children and adults to incorporate activities that help begin the healing process.
    32 pages

  • Everything Changes, But Love Endures: Explaining Hospice to Children

    By Karen L. Carney

    Children’s (ages 3+) series of coloring books that offers information, education and support for end-of-life challenges.

  • Healing a Child’s Grieving Heart: 100 Practical Ideas

    By Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.

    Child-friendly ideas to help children mourn.
    107 pages

  • Honoring Our Loved Ones: Going to a Funeral

    By Karen L. Carney

    Children’s (ages 3+) series of coloring books that offers information, education and support for end-of-life challenges.

  • How Do We Tell the Children? A Step-by-Step Guide for Helping Children and Teens Cope When Someone Dies (4th Edition)

    By Daniel Schaefer, Ph.D., and Christine Lyons

    Guidance for helping children cope with grief and trauma – from serious family illness to school violence or the death of a parent.
    202 pages

  • Kate, the Ghost Dog: Coping With the Death of a Pet

    By Wayne L. Wilson

    A story about learning to deal with the loss of a pet for children ages 8-13.
    48 pages

  • Kirby’s Ocean Friend: A Grief Therapy Tool for Young Children Who Have Lost a Parent

    By Diane L.M. Cook

    A touching story about the loss of a mother and growing up without her.
    20 pages

  • Kolie and the Funeral

    By Ralph L. Klicker, Ph.D.

    A children’s coloring book that explains death and the funeral through simple pictures and terms that children can understand.
    10 pages

  • Our Special Garden: Understanding Cremation

    By Karen L. Carney

    Children’s (ages 3+) series of coloring books that offers information, education and support for end-of-life challenges.

  • Precious Gifts: Organ and Tissue Donation

    By Karen L. Carney

    Children’s (ages 3+) series of coloring books that offers information, education and support for end-of-life challenges.

  • Ride to the Stars: A Story for Children About Life, Loss and Love

    By Suzanne Gene Courtney

    The loss of a loved one is tragic, but with hope, healing and love comes an understanding of how a life is truly infinite as well.
    32 pages

  • Samantha Jane’s Missing Smile: A Story About Coping With the Loss of a Parent

    By Julie Kaplow and Donna Pincus

    Story to help children begin to understand the profoundly lifechanging event of losing a parent.
    25 pages

  • So Much to Think About When Someone You Care About Has Died

    By Fred Rogers

    Meaningful activities for bereaved children to help them think about and express their feelings. Includes photo story, ready-to-design greeting cards, memory pages, games, activities and more.
    25 pages

  • They’re Part of the Family: Talk to Children About Pet Loss

    By Karen L. Carney

    Children’s (ages 3+) series of coloring books that offers information, education and support for end-of-life challenges.

  • Together, We’ll Get Through This!

    By Karen L. Carney

    Children’s (ages 3+) series of coloring books that offers information, education and support for end-of-life challenges.

  • What is the Meaning of Shiva? Jewish Mourning Rituals

    By Karen L. Carney

    Children’s (ages 3+) series of coloring books that offers information, education and support for end-of-life challenges.

  • When Death Walks In

    By Mark Scrivan

    A gentle, thorough book for teens that looks at ways of facing grief, how grief affects us and what we can do. Speaks to teens in a language they will understand.
    23 pages

  • Zayde Comes to Live

    By Sheri Sinykin

    Story of a young girl and her dying grandfather that sensitively explores death from a Jewish perspective.
    29 pages

For Teens

  • Common Threads of Teenage Grief: A Handbook for Healing

    By Janet N. Tyson and Teens Who Know

    Information on teen grief and personal stories about loss; provides guidance for teens and the people involved in helping them with their grief.
    112 pages

  • Healing a Teen’s Grieving Heart: 100 Practical Ideas for Families, Friends and Caregivers

    By Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.

    Offers ideas to help teens heal in a simple, easy-to-use format.
    109 pages

  • Teen Grief Relief: Parenting With Understanding, Support and Guidance

    By Dr. Heidi Horsley and Dr. Gloria Horsley

    Provides parents with assistance they need to help a teen grieve; with stories, techniques and resources to survive and thrive after a painful loss.

Loss of Immediate Family

  • For Better or Worse: A Handbook for Couples Whose Child Has Died

    By Maribeth Wilder Doerr

    Help for couples who often have very different paths in the grief process.
    22 pages

  • Grieving for the Sibling You Lost: A Teen’s Guide to Coping With Grief and Finding Meaning After Loss

    By Erica Goldblatt Hyatt, DSW

    A guide for teens to help them understand their grief, deal with their emotions and find constructive ways to manage their loss.
    176 pages

  • Healing a Grandparent’s Grieving Heart: 100 Practical Ideas After Your Grandchild Dies

    By Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.

    A simple, easy-to-use format to help grandparents heal.
    109 pages

  • Healing a Parent’s Grieving Heart: 100 Practical Ideas After Your Child Dies

    By Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.

    A simple, easy-to-use format to help grieving parents.
    109 pages

  • Healing the Adult Child’s Grieving Heart: 100 Practical Ideas

    By Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.

    Creative ideas to help adults begin the healing process.
    105 pages

  • Healing Your Grieving Heart After a Military Death: 100 Practical Ideas for Families and Friends

    By Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.

    Practical ideas to help those whose life has been touched by a military death.
    128 pages

  • Healing Your Grieving Heart After a Miscarriage: 100 Practical Ideas for Parents and Families

    By Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.

    Compassionate guide offering ideas to help those grieving a miscarriage or any form of earlypregnancy loss.
    112 pages

  • The Lost Parent Club

    By Lora Ann Young

    Facing the first year of loss while learning to walk alongside your surviving parent.
    196 pages

  • Memories Too Few: A Letter to Parents About Pregnancy Loss

    By Kathy Manning Burns

    A personal message to parents who have experienced the death of a child during pregnancy. Few people understand the true depths of grief following miscarriage, stillbirth or newborn death.
    31 pages

  • Partnered Grief

    By Harold Ivan Smith and Joy Johnson

    Compassionate resource for lesbian and gay individuals and their families who have lost a loved one examines healthy attitudes, grieving and moving forward.
    21 pages

  • Surviving the Folded Flag

    By Deborah H. Tainsh

    Parents who have lost a son or daughter in battle share stories of coping, courage and faith.

  • When a Man Faces Grief: 12 Practical Ideas to Help You Heal From Loss

    By Thomas R. Golden and James E. Miller

    A two-part exploration of male grief, with tips to help men find their path through grief.
    32 pages

Suicide, Sudden and Tragic Death

  • Silent Grief: Living in the Wake of Suicide

    By Christopher Lukas and Henry M. Seiden

    Provides insights, strategies and support for survivors affected by a suicide.
    220 pages