When a family faces grief due to the loss of a pet, home, or family member it is often hard to help our youngest family members deal with the changes. Sometimes we are so busy trying to deal with our own grief and the practical matters that need to be handled that we don’t have the energy and creative thinking necessary to handle the questions children have. Here are a variety of books that might help you and your kids deal with the emotions and changes.

In Our Parenting Section:
Tear Soup: a Recipe for Healing After Loss by Pat Schwiebert and Chuck DeKlyen; illustrated by Taylor Bills

Lifetimes: a Beautiful Way to Explain Death to Children by Bryan Mellonie and Robert Ingp

When Dinosaurs Die: a Guide to Understanding Death by Laurie Krasny Brown and Marc Brown

Guiding Your Child Through Grief by Mary Ann Emswiler and James P. Emswiler

When Children Grieve: For Adults to Help Children Deal with Death, Divorce, Pet Loss, Moving, and Other Losses by John W. James and Russell Friedman with Leslie Landon

With Our Picture Books and Children’s Non Fiction:
Always and Forever by Alan Durant; illustrated by Debi Gliori

Badger’s Parting Gifts by Susan Varley

When Aunt Mattie Got Her Wings by Petra Math

The Fall of Freddie the Leaf: a Story of Life for All Ages by Leo Buscaglia

I’ll Always Love You by Hans Wilhelm

Boats for Papa by Jessixa Bagley

Harry & Hopper by Margaret Wild

When People Die by Pete Sanders and Steve Myers

Death by Patricia J. Murphy

When a Pet Dies by Fred Rogers