Grief Lending Library

This model is designed for a six-week time period.  In other words, the group meets once a week for six weeks.  When groups get stretched out over longer periods of time, participation is often interrupted.  Many people can plan six weeks into their schedules, but beyond that, it may get complicated.  It also means people are not committing to a series of meetings which may never end.   Six Simple Weeks gives you everything you need to know to start a support group.  It includes all the information necessary and a week by week model to get you started.

• Helping Children

• School Resources

These photographs were a common aspect of American culture, a part of the mourning and memorialization process.

• General

Ages 3-7. A story about grieving with activity pages and suggestions for parents.

• Children

Book for the child who comes after the one who died. Explains the parents’ desire for a child and the sadness that comes over them when that baby dies. Then shares how the parents get to the point of wanting another child to come into their lives.

• Children

• Death of a Sibling

For children ages 4 and up. A very personal way to help your child deal with the death of a friend or relative. Includes practical suggestions for parents.

• Children

• Helping Children

Designed for adult caregivers to read to surviving youngsters following a suicidal death. 'Wondering if you could have done something to prevent this suicide is normal. Nothing you said or did would have changed what happened.'

• Children

• Suicide

Accidental substance overdoses continue to rise across our country, leaving families at a loss as to how to tell and assist the children that are grieving. This story is an excellent tool for parents and caregivers. Includes a workbook, definitions, some facts and a note to the adult reading the story.

• Children

• Overdose

Offers specific details involved in preparing for death, ways of minimizing fear and grief and provides a forum in which people share their first-hand experiences with death.

• Anticipatory / Before the Death

• Historical

Something Very Sad Happened is intended to be read to two- and three-year-old children to help them understand death and process the loss of a loved one. Written at a developmental level that is appropriate for two- and three-year-olds, the story explains death; lets children know that it is okay to feel sad; and reassures children that they can still love the person who died, and the person who died will always love them.

• Children

“As a grieving father, R. Glenn Kelly exposes the inner thoughts of a man who has lost the most precious of gifts; his child. Written with the powerful and honest emotion that only someone who has walked in his shoes can truly understand, R. Glenn provides encouragement, insight, and hope to men who are “in the club no one wants to belong to.

• Death of a Child

• Men and grief

The Sound of Solitude is the most moving, private, and essential collection of verse Rod McKuen has yet been willing to share with his millions of readers. Written in diary form this book details the slow, secret search for love, the joy of finding someone, and the nearly indefinable emptiness left behind when love goes.

• Death of a Partner

The author uses her personal experience of her daughter's death to help other parents deal with their grief in the days, weeks, months and years after losing a child.

• Death of a Child

Written for the bereaved person following the funeral. The book will not eliminate grief, but…can assist in adjusting to a new way of life.

• General

• Historical

In Stepparenting the Grieving Child, Diane Ingram Fromme shares the assumptions and presumptions, steps and missteps that occurred within her own stepfamily. Diane faced the key challenges any new stepparent to grieving children experiences, including helplessness to know how and when to offer comfort, awkwardness to identify the times and ways to memorialize the lost parent, and outsider blues--not only feeling uncomfortable in her own home but also in her own skin.

• Helping Children

• Death of a Parent

In the summer of 1991 I was a normal kid. I did normal things. I had friends and a mother who loved me. I was just like you. Until the day my life was stolen. For eighteen years I was a prisoner. I was an object for someone to use and abuse. For eighteen years I was not allowed to speak my own name. I became a mother and was forced to be a sister. For eighteen years I survived an impossible situation. On August 26, 2009, I took my name back. My name is Jaycee Lee Dugard. I don’t think of myself as a victim. I survived. A Stolen Life is my story – in my own words, in my own way, exactly as I remember it.

• General

• Abduction

Ages 3-7. When his best friend Hippo, who is the oldest and sagest animal in the jungle, dies, Monkey is devastated and wonders what he will do without his friend who always told him stories and laughed at his jokes, in a touching book that shows young readers how to cope with loss.

• Children

Simple, direct, “straight from the heart” information about what a teenager can expect from the grieving process.

• Teens

After the sudden loss of her mother, Chelsea Hanson, a nationally-recognized grief educator and founder of With Sympathy Gifts and Keepsakes, didn’t know where to turn for help, what to do next, or how to put the pieces of her life back together. Hanson’s The Sudden Loss Survival Guide gathers everything that she learned during her own recovery process and provides an indispensable road map to aid those who’ve experienced a life-changing loss.

• Sudden & Traumatic Death

• Death of a Mother

An introduction to the problem and prevention of geriatric suicide focuses on the elderly's sometimes suicidal reaction to severe physical illness, and pathological personal relationships.

• Sudden & Traumatic Death

• Suicide / Historical

… promises to give those in the counseling field a fuller understanding of their work with suicide survivors.

• Sudden & Traumatic Death / Professional

• Suicide / Historical

This book in a five-book set is Aidan’s story after the suicide death of his father Don, in 2002. Their reflections are captured in their own words and through poignant art by artist/storyteller Laurie Phillips.

• Sudden & Traumatic Death

• Suicide

This book in a five-book set is Becky’s story after the suicide death of her father Don, in 2002. Their reflections are captured in their own words and through poignant art by artist/storyteller Laurie Phillips.

• Sudden & Traumatic Death

• Suicide

This book in a five-book set is Pattie’s story after the suicide death of her husband Don, in 2002. Their reflections are captured in their own words and through poignant art by artist/storyteller Laurie Phillips.

• Sudden & Traumatic Death

• Suicide

This book in a five-book set is Will’s story after the suicide death of his father Don, in 2002. Their reflections are captured in their own words and through poignant art by artist/storyteller Laurie Phillips.

• Sudden & Traumatic Death

• Suicide

A guide for those who have lost someone to suicide. Chapters cover dealing with other people, why suicide grief is different, emotions that come with suicide grief, relationships with others, and recovery.

• Sudden & Traumatic Death

• Suicide

85 questions and answers about suicide. Includes biographical references.

• Sudden & Traumatic Death

• Suicide

Ages 8-12. A chapter book that tells the story of Willow who loses his best friend and how he deals with the loss.

• Children

Baby-2 years. This story is about a child whose father dies at home. It follows the family from the night of the father's death through the days following the funeral. The feelings of the child and the events surrounding her father's death are realistically portrayed and caringly addressed. The illustrations are bright and colorful and the text is rich and descriptive. This is an excellent resource for families who are experiencing, or will soon experience, the death of a family member.'

• Children

A reader friendly guide to helping children. Includes: supporting grieving children and teens, signs of grief in children and teens, what you can do, teachable moments, and taking care of yourself. Information that will help parents and their grieving children.

• Children

A reader friendly guide to helping children. Includes: supporting grieving children and teens, signs of grief in children and teens, what you can do, teachable moments, and taking care of yourself. Information that will help schools when a death in the classroom occurs.

• Children

• School Resources

Includes personal experiences with sibling grief, survey results from bereaved parents and bereaved siblings, how to bridge the communication gap between parents and children, and dealing with unanswered questions.

• General

• Death of a Sibling

Offers the grieving person the support and understanding needed to get through the difficult journey of grief. Written by Dr. Catherine Sanders, a therapist and researcher specializing in bereavement issues and one who has lived through the loss of close family members. Helps the griever to see that what they are feelings is part of a natural process of readjustment and renewal.

• General

Offers individuals and couples a comprehensive guide for coping with the many intense feelings – anger, depression, fear, envy – that often emerge from the crisis of infertility.

• General

• Infertility

Helps people grieving the loss of a sibling, as well as therapists and friends and family who are supporting. This book mixes Dr. Diraimondo's personal and professional experiences with bereavement, as well as perspectives of other individuals who have faced a sibling loss.

• General

• Sibling Loss

A story of faith and love told so that others may find comfort and understanding when faced with the most painful of all losses: the death of one's child.

• Death of a Child

• Religious

Helps adults who have lost a brother or sister to realize that they are not alone in their struggle. It teaches them to understand the unique stages of their grieving process, offering practical and prescriptive advice for dealing with each stage.

• General

• Death of a Sibling

This collection of more than twenty-five stories from Gold Star parents celebrates the lives of their sons who died in service and offers hope and advice for other families facing such a loss. Bonus essays from a casualty assistance officer and a former soldier give deeper insight into how wartime death affects comrades.

• Death of a Child

• Military

The papers included in this book speak of and for the survivors of suicide, of their torment and need for psychological assistance.

• Sudden & Traumatic Death

• Suicide

A book for both men and women about the masculine side of healing from loss. Swallowed by a Snake is meant to be a map and a guide through the experience of loss. It will help you move through the pain of loss and into a place of healing and transformation.

• General

• Men and grief

A story about the unique and complicated relationship between mothers and daughters, and celebrates how that relationship continues to exist beyond the grave. Maya became an organ donor at the time of her death. The book chronicles a remarkable friendship between a grieving mother and the man who is alive because her daughter's heart beats in his chest.

• Death of a Child

• Organ Donors

This is the story of Ruth. Of Ann. And of all of us who wonder what we’d say if we knew we didn’t have forever. The author writes about her experience losing a friend to breast cancer in a fictional way.

• General

• Breast Cancer

This short, easy to read book offers simple but important advice and guidance for school teachers and staff on what to do when a child is grieving. It includes advice on explaining death to children, insights into how children may be feeling and how they may react, and ways in which they can be supported. The book also covers how bereavement can affect a child and how it can affect the whole school in the case of a death of a pupil or staff member.

• Helping Children

• School Resources

Explaining divorce and separation to children is difficult. This book gives helpful advice on how to talk about you and your spouse walking separate paths. Includes a storybook section for children and adults to read together. Following is a section for parents to use to open up communication between parent and child.

• Helping Children

• Divorce

Through stories and thoughtful analysis, Maria explains how to handle the difficult job of talking with children and adolescents about loss. Includes information about divorce, Death of a Pet, death of a family member, the disabling of a sibling and more.

• Helping Children

• All Losses

Ages 8-12. A sensitive portrayal of a young boy’s attempt to understand and accept his best friend’s sudden death.

• Children

• Death of a friend / Historical

Ages 6 and up. Tear Soup gives you a glimpse into Grandy’s life as she blends different ingredients into her own grief process. Her tear soup will help to bring her comfort and ultimately help to fill the void in her life that was created by her loss. Following Grandy’s story you will find ‘cooking tips’ to use in dealing with grief: if you are the cook; if your friend is the cook; if a child is the cook; if you are a male chef; if there are two of you cooking.

• Children

Techniques of Grief Therapy is an indispensable guidebook to the most inventive and inspirational interventions in grief and bereavement counseling and therapy. Individually, each technique emphasizes creativity and practicality.

• Professional

Provides both parents and teens with the help they need. Shared are teen stories, feelings, techniques, references and resources for use in not only surviving but thriving after the painful loss of a family member or close friend.

• Teens

The facts about suicide, warning signs to watch for, and when and where to go for help.

• Sudden & Traumatic Death

• Suicide / Helping Teens

Using true-life examples and a personal style, this book offers solid, compassionate help to grieving teenagers. The special problems associated with suicide are also discussed.

• Teens

A self-help guide for teenagers who are struggling with bereavement and the emotional difficulties it presents. This book provides an overview of grief as a painful but normal process, offering insights from bereavement experts as well as practical suggestions for coping with loss, including accounts from teens. This book closes a gap in the available literature on grief and bereavement that has tended to focus on adults and younger children. It provides a warm, accessible resource that will reassure teen readers about the normality of grief, encourages their understanding of what happens during the grief process, and provides an indispensable resource guide.

• Teens

"Takes the great unknown of death and tells it as it is. Feelings hurt but feelings shared are feelings diminished."

• Teens

• Suicide

Ages 3-19. In an attempt to overcome his grief, a boy tries to think of the ten best things about his dead cat.

• Children

Ages 4-7. For children who have witnessed any kind of violent or traumatic episode. An afterward for parents and other caregivers offers extensive suggestions for helping traumatized children, including a list of other sources that focus on specific events.

• Children

• Witness Traumatic Event

Children of all ages. Ways children can be told, introduced to funerals, say goodbye and express themselves. Stories of children and funerals are sprinkled throughout. Actual hands-on how-to's for orienting children to the funeral home and sections for parents, funeral directors, teachers and clergy.

• Children

Ages 3-8. Grief is more than sadness. This children's book helps kids to make sense of their big emotions and express them during times of loss and change.

• Children

Ages 4-8. It is a discipleship tool for parents and caregivers in helping children learn that people grieve in many different ways, how to talk about grief, ways to honor and remember a loved one, and how Jesus knows and understands their tears.

• Children

• Religious

A fascinating new window into what happens in our brain when we grieve, providing a new paradigm for understanding, love, loss, and learning.

• General

Ages 3 and up. Here is the very best news ever. When our pets aren't with us anymore, and Invisible Leash connects our hearts to each other. FOREVER.

• Children

• Pet Loss

A book offering interactive pages and practical, witty advice for those who are confronting a future without their person. Ideas for honoring their memory, dealing with tough days, as well as managing other relationships.

• General

• Interactive

In this lyrical handbook for mastering the art of grieving, noted psychotherapist Francis Weller reveals the new vitality we encounter when we welcome, rather than fear, the pain of loss

• General

Eleven children share their experiences with terminal illness, especially the ways they helped each other cope with the prospects of their own death.

• Children

• Terminally Ill Children / Historical

Ages 4-8. This book was created about fetal loss to help families have conversations with their children.

• Children

• Miscarriage

This story is written in love to all who have faced a challenge in life. Perhaps you have been afraid, or have had a bad day at school. Maybe you have lost a best friend or a loved one. You may be sick or hurt. This is a story for anyone who has ever endured pain or gone through struggles. It is a story about overcoming obstacles of life, especially illness. It offers hope; just as author Abby has her whole life while battling congenital heart defects, asthma and pulmonary hypertension. Abby’s Make A Wish was to publish a book and this is the result of that wish.

• Children

How parents can survive when more than one child dies. The author speaks of his experiences of going back to work, marriage and Jessica, the surviving big sister who was at home.

• Death of a Child

• Death of children

An essential resource for families who love and care for people with Alzheimer disease. Whether a person has Alzheimer disease or another form of dementia, he or she will face a host of problems. The 36-Hour Day will help family members and caregivers address these challenges and simultaneously cope with their own emotions and needs.

• Alzheimer's Disease

For parents who have experienced the death of a stillborn baby or a very young infant. Gives suggestions on things a parent should consider for remembrances.

• Death of a Child

• Stillbirth / Early Infant Death

This book shows that although grief and pain may be changing you now, they have the potential to transform your life in a healing way. Ellis uses many real-life narratives of loss from his therapy practice to help illustrate various ways of grieving, and shows how you can learn from the experience of loss and make your way towards a place of healing transitions and a renewed sense of life.

• General

An angry expose - the result of hundreds of interviews and extensive research into the plight of The American widow.

• Death of a Partner

• Historical

"In a warm and sensitive way it (the book) will help children deal with the loss of a loved one."

• Children

The words for this book were written long ago as a poem. The poem is now part of the Bible, called Ecclesiastes. It tells about the cycle of life. In the Bible, God says that he will change the pattern of good and bad that we see all around us. God can turn our sadness into dancing. He wants to give us a life that last forever, a life with him on a healed earth with no sickness, no crying and no death-ever!

• Children

• Religious

Noted Christian author Carol Fitzpatrick describes not only the stages of grief but shares poignant examples from her own life and from the Bible on how to deal with this devastating emotion.

• General

• Religious

This book accompanies the reader through the deep and prolonged grief that follows the death of a loved one. Written to connect with you wherever you are in your grieving process, these meditations are appropriate regardless of when your loved one died.

• General

With warmth and compassion, the author highlights seven concerns that she has found to be important to people who are nearing life’s end.

• Anticipatory / Before the Death

Explores many types of significant losses which cause grief: death, divorce, unemployment, etc. Coping strategies which help lessen pain and promote healing.

• General

• All Losses

Defines the socio-religious aspects concerning the dynamics of the process of mourning as it is revealed in modern psychiatric research, as well as the Jewish theological background relating to the concept of death.

• General

• Religious - Jewish / Historical

Ages 4-9. Tender story of a duck (Timothy) who loves a boy. Timothy watches John get sick and die; learns about grief and goodbyes.

• Children

Sheryl Van Weelden speaks to those who are on their grief journey, or those supporting people on their grief journey. Within the pages of this book, she invites them to walk down that path with her.

• Death of a Partner

Deals with the need to be aware of our natural fear of death, our anxiety, our will to live and the foretastes of death in the midst of life.

• General

• Historical

This book is the story of Claypool's own journey through the darkness, written through four sermons. The first was delivered just eleven days after his eight year old daughter's diagnosis of leukemia, the second after her first major relapse nine months later, and the third weeks after her death. The final sermon - reflection on the process of grieving - was preached three years later.

• General

“Bridging the worlds of war veterans, prisoners of war, battered women and incest victims, Herman presents a compelling analysis of trauma and the process of healing.”

• General

• Trauma

Combining the clarity and logic of C. S. Lewis with a terrific sense of fun and adventure, DeStefano creates a brilliant, reassuring portrait of heaven, a place that has intrigued and puzzled humankind throughout history. 

• General

• Relgious

It has been written as a conversation between a child and their loved one, designed as a memory keepsake and amazingly illustrated to encourage light, love and forever memories. Turned Upside Down opens conversations with children and adults, allowing them to process, understand and embrace the loss of their very special someone. Share the gift of connecting with the other side. 

• Children

Religious Perspectives represents a quest for the rediscovery of man. It constitutes an effort to define man's search for the essence of being in order that he may have a knowledge of goals. It is an endeavor to show that there is no possibility of achieving an understanding of man's total nature on the basis of phenomena known by the analytical method alone.

• General

• Religious / Historical

Organized overview of practical interventions that are innovative for human service professionals that are helping bereaved children. Helps in understanding how grief after a death can impact children and all aspects of their lives.

• Helping Children

Readers will find a perceptive history of man's reaction to death and practical methods of counseling which can restore the grief-stricken to a useful life.

• General

• Historical

Dr. Jackson has written in a way which will being real help, insight and improvement even to situations which have seemed hopeless.

• General

Loss is always hard, but when someone you love dies of an accidental drug overdose, the grief that follows can be especially painful and challenging.In this compassionate guide, Dr. Alan Wolfelt shares the most important lessons he has learned from loved ones who've picked up the pieces in the aftermath of a drug overdose.

• Sudden & Traumatic Death

• Overdose

A support group guide that goes along with the "Understanding your Grief: ten essential touchstones for finding hope and healing your heart" book.

• General

Explains the important difference between grief and mourning and explores the mourner's need to acknowledge the death and embrace the pain of the loss. This important book also explores the many factors that make each person's grief unique and the myriad of normal thoughts and feelings the mourner might have. Questions of spirituality and religion are addressed.

• General

An overview of the basic issues; children's comprehension of death, the phenomenon of childhood bereavement, and parental loss.

• Helping Children

• Death of a Sibling

Contains all that Mr. Kelly has learned about cancer and how to live with it. The author is founder and president of the national organization "Make Today Count."

• Anticipatory / Before the Death

• Cancer / Historical

Answers to common questions of those trying to support bereaved friends. Descriptions of the most common symptoms and stages based on the most current research on grief.

• General

In the tapestry of life and death, we may begin to see connections to the past that we missed in life. While death may look like a loss to the living, the last hours of a dying person may be filled with fullness rather than emptiness. In this fascinating book, Kessler brings us stunning stories from the bedsides of the dying that will educate, enlighten, and comfort us all.

• General

Will help find guidelines both to increase the psychological comfort of our own dying and to enhance our understanding of loved ones who may be dying.

• Anticipatory / Before the Death

Voices of Strength helps survivors make sense of life's least understandable act and shows them how to heal by focusing on comfort, memories, recovery, and hopes for a productive future.

• Sudden & Traumatic Death

• Suicide

For parents who have lost an infant child. The author shares the story of the brief life of her son who is born with a rare heart defect. Stresses the importance of recognizing grace and beauty in the here and now.

• Death of a Child

At thirty, Laurel Lee discovered she had Hodgkin’s disease – an agonizing illness that could take her life and her baby’s as well. Refusing to give up, she learned to overcome the pain with humor and faith, and began to write this remarkable journal of her feelings and experience.

• Anticipatory / Before the Death

• Hodgkin's Disease / Historical

The question of why God would allow pain and suffering has vexed believers and nonbelievers forever. Keller takes on this enduring issue and shows that there is meaning and reason behind pain and suffering, making a case that this essential part of the human experience can truly be overcome only by understanding our relationship with God.

• General

• Religious

This prose poem shows how the author dealt with her teenage daughter’s unexpected death. A collaboration of art and poetry.

• Death of a Child