The Best Books to Help Kids with Grief, From a Parent Who’s Been Through It

When something sad happens, Taylor doesn’t know where to turn. All the animals are sure they have the answer. One by one, they all try to tell Taylor how to act, and one by one they fail to offer comfort. But then, the rabbit arrives. All the rabbit does is listen, which is just what Taylor needs.

In this book, we see the close and lively relationship shared between a beloved grandpa and granddaughter, and all the ways she has been enriched by knowing him and the ways he will always be there for her, even though he’s now gone. This book is just right for starting necessary conversations about grief and for paying tribute to the loved ones we’ve lost.

While young kids are avid observers and questioners of their world, adults often shut down or postpone conversations on complicated topics because it’s hard to know where to start. However, research shows that talking about tough issues from the age of 2 not only helps children understand what they see but also increases self-awareness and self-esteem and allows them to recognize and confront things that feel unfair. This book aims to normalize the topic of death by discussing what it means and how it feels to experience loss in an honest yet simple way. 

When you see someone sad, it’s only natural to want to cheer them up. But what is the right way to do it? Some people like hugs, but others don’t, and sometimes a joke is more comforting than a card. How can you do the just-right thing if you don’t know what it is? This book offers an important lesson about how to give comfort to loved ones by setting aside your assumptions and following their lead.

The repeating anthem in this iconic children’s book can be a helpful metaphor to talk to children about grief—’We can’t go over it. We can’t go under it. Oh, no! We’ve got to go through it!’ And just like the family in the book, it’s easier to get ‘through it’ when you lean on the ones you love.

Whether dealing with departed friends, family, or pets, memories can carry us beyond the precious moments we have together to keep the ones we loved before in mind forever. Loss becomes remembrance in this book that offers tender ways to pay tribute to a loved one’s lost presence into present and future life experiences. 

When a close friend or family member dies, it can be difficult for kids to express the big feelings they are experiencing, especially when they start to feel the gaps in their everyday lives. This book will help explain in a gentle way that death is a natural complement to life and that grief and a sense of loss are normal and healthy feelings to have.

“When our pets aren’t with us anymore, an Invisible Leash connects our hearts to each other. Forever.” That’s what Zack’s friend Emily tells him after his dog dies, and at first, Zack doesn’t believe it. He only believes in what he can see. But on an enlightening journey through their neighborhood—and through his grief—he comes to feel the comforting tug of the Invisible Leash, and it feels like love. 

Written for anyone who has ever lost a pet, I’ll Be Your Friend Forever is a heartwarming message from across the rainbow bridge that lets kids know that their beloved furry friend is OK on the other side and that the beautiful journey of love and loss can teach you how some friendships last longer than a lifetime.

When tragedy affects Rachel’s family after her dad dies, she struggles to get out of bed and pay attention at school. 

She loses interest in playing with her friends and fears forgetting special things about her dad. Then, one morning, she receives a visit and a little encouragement from a playful and persistent cardinal that offers hope for the future. 

When the death of a relative, a friend, or a pet happens or is about to happen, how can we help a child to understand? Lifetimes is a moving book for children of all ages that explains life and death in a sensitive, caring, and beautiful way. The story touches on beginnings, endings, and all the living that happens in between, as well as how dying is as much a part of living as being born. 

With a Butterfly’s Wings is a tender story about a girl who loses her beloved grandmother and finds comfort in remembering her through what she learned from her. Even though she is now gone, she is remembered through all of the beautiful stories she told and lessons she taught. 

What do you do with all the love you have for someone who isn’t here anymore? Everywhere, Still is a book about the feeling of loss and grief that comes with missing someone and is a reminder that there is always a way to stay close with the people who are biggest in our hearts, no matter how far across space and time they may be.

Sadness can be scary and confusing at any age. When we feel sad, especially for long periods of time, it can seem as if the sadness is a part of who we are—an overwhelming, invisible, and scary sensation. In this story, sadness is given a shape and a face and encourages the reader to give it a name, do activities with it, and talk to it, all of which helps to demystify it and distinguish it from ourselves.

In this timely consideration of emotional well-being, a small boy creates a shelter for his sadness so that he can visit it whenever he needs to, and the two of them can cry, talk, or just sit. The boy knows that one day his sadness may come out of the shelter, and together they will look out at the world and see how beautiful it is.