Bereavement, Grief & Loss

Written sensitively and illustrated beautifully, this book gently takes the reader (a child of any age) by the hand and helps them understand that when someone leaves us, that person didn’t choose to do so and a part of them will always live on in the memories and love that they shared. The book gently encourages readers that it is okay to feel different emotions and for those emotions to be displayed in different ways. Written with the support of Child Bereavement UK, with useful tips at the back of the book for supporting a child (or grown-up) going through the bereavement process. Death is often difficult for us to talk about, but this book will hopefully pave the way for those necessary conversations to happen.

Although mostly about grieving, Michael Rosen’s Sad Book also explores sadness generally. This is a starkly honest account of a father’s grief, based on Michael Rosen’s own experience of losing his son Eddie. Michael feels sad when he thinks about Eddie and in this book he describes the pain of living with his sadness and some of the things he does to try and cope with it. A beautiful, truly human text with perfectly matched illustrations by Quentin Blake.

This beautiful picture book is well suited for being in the hands of a child who experiences the loss of a loved one. It is a story of grief that manages to hold the complexity of the feelings of a child and her dad alongside the rawness of those emotions in a simple and perfect way. The child in the story finds comfort in her mum’s jumper. She muses why her mum left it behind, as she loved it so much. The child wears the jumper all of the time – the smell of her mum merging with her own smell. Her dad explains that grief is like the jumper – it stays the same size but she will grow into it – so the grief never goes away or diminishes, it is just that everything else grows around it.

Juhi helps her Appa in the flower shop. She understands the language of love and the messages that flowers can share e.g. affection, sorrow or an embrace. She knows how flowers can be offered as a language of faith such as offerings at a temple. But Juhi does not understand the language of grief.

In this evocative picturebook, Smith’s graceful writing is complimented beautifully by Asis’ illustrations. We learn with Juhi what grief looks like and how beauty can offer comfort in times of loss.

A heartfelt story about navigating grief, embracing self-expression, and discovering reasons to celebrate even in life’s most challenging times. Great for children who are curious about the loss of their loved ones.

Dadaji’s Paintbrush is a sumptuous story of a young boy’s special relationship with his grandfather, set in a small village in India.

This is a beautiful story that deals with the difficult subject of the loss of a grandparent in a gentle and understanding way.  The beautiful Indian setting that will be unfamiliar to many readers highlights the universal experiences of love and loss, showing that no matter where you are, some human experiences unite us all.

The illustrations are simple and beautiful and we particularly liked how the colours linked with the main character’s emotions. We also loved the evocative and sensory setting descriptions in the story – we could almost taste the mangoes!

As well as gently exploring the topic of grief, the story is ultimately filled with hope and draws out the values of art, community and legacy. There’s so much to unpack in this stunning story.

Storm in a Jar is the story of a young boy called Arlo, who has a loving relationship with his Nana. When his Nana passes away, Arlo chooses to keep her special sweetie jar as a keepsake, taking it everywhere with him. The jar keeps the memory of his Nana alive and provides him with comfort. Slowly, however, Arlo’s sadness turns to confusion and anger and the contents of the jar become dark and cloudy, like a storm. Before long, Arlo releases his anger and the jar releases its storm. But, with the help of his parents, Arlo begins to understand his feelings and that his Nana has gone on to a safe and happy place.

This poignant tale accurately portrays the feelings children experience when they lose someone they love. It shares the importance of remembering those we have loved in positive ways, using simple, understandable language. The illustrations are clear and add further detail to the story. For example, the sharp-eyed reader would notice that Arlo has a hearing impairment, he comes from a mixed-race family and doesn’t appear to notice that he has also inherited a pet tortoise from his Nana who rides the waves of the storm along with him.

At the back of the book, there are also two added extras: a ‘Stormy Bottle’ sensory craft to help with anxiety and anger; and a ‘Storm in a Jar’ science experiment. This would be an excellent book for a child suffering from a bereavement or as a starting point for a class discussion in a PSHE lesson.

Badger’s friends are very sad after he passes away. The friends begin to recall the special things he gave to each of them when he was alive – memories and blessings that mean that even though their friend is no longer with them physically, he will always have a place in their hearts. The publisher has also produced some accompanying resources in association with the charity Child Bereavement UK, aimed at using the book to support bereaved children.

Bertle and Hertle (one a turtle, one a hare) are the best of friends and are always found together, having fun, playing and helping each other. That is, until one day, when Hertle disappears, leaving only a black hole where he should have been.

Bertle looks for his friend everywhere, getting angry at the hole and pleading with it, until he eventually lets his sadness at the missing Hertle surround him. Luckily for Bertle, the wise and kindly Gerda the bear understands what he is feeling and encourages the turtle to fill the hole with all the amazing memories he has of Hertle and their time together.

The Hare-Shaped Hole is a beautiful, touching and poignant book that accurately depicts what it feels like to lose someone or something very important to you. The heart-warming ending, full of colour, could bring the most stoic of readers to tears. As someone who has both lost a parent this year and supported a child losing their own, this book was particularly on-point and I have yet to read another which so accurately depicts the feelings of grief and memories of loved ones.

I would highly recommend this as a book for children who are experiencing loss  – and to adults too! I shared the book with several colleagues, all of whom read the book cover-to-cover in one sitting, many of them stating they wished there were books like this when they were young. The illustrations are beautiful, highlighting the feelings and emotions of our characters. The ‘hare-shaped hole’ changing in colour is particularly effective. The story is written in rhyme, which helps to keep the gentle tone throughout. A beautiful story of love, loss and grief.

The pain and anger of grief are explored in this beautiful picture book. For those readers familiar with the ‘Hare-Shaped Hole’ you can expect the same level of sensitivity and respect for young readers as was found in that book. Whilst it addresses the same issue of death, dying and loss, it begins in a different place. It begins with the description of a wise, kind and fair character, Gerda the bear and only then reveals Gerda’s past, in which she has lost a friend, carer and confidante – Orlo the bear – when Gerda was young.

The book is suitable for KS1 and children in KS2 who need to talk about issues of death. With a teacher or parent’s guidance and sensitivity, this positioning of the character of Gerda can support discussion about the positive impact of a person’s life on those around them. What is often not discussed about grief is the huge anger and resentment that can be felt by those who will be left behind. The book shows this anger when Orlo becomes ill and knows they do not have long to live. The beautiful illustrations guide the reader to understanding that this anger is normal and a part of grief that begins even before death. This book provides a really helpful starting point to support children who are experiencing the pain of illness, death and grief within their circle of family and friends.