Books For Children
Please note this is just a sample of books available and is simply a recommended reading list. SSN by no means promotes one book over the other and wishes to make clear the information in these books is meant to supplement, not replace, professional training.
Margo Requarth, Healing Hearts Press, 2006.
Written by a bereavement counselor who lost her mother to suicide before she was four years old, this book offers constructive, compassionate, and clear suggestions for helping children.
The Dougy Center for Grieving Children & Families, 2001.
Available through the Dougy Center.
This activity book was designed specifically for children coping with a suicide loss. It provides creative exercises, offers practical advice, and incorporates quotations from children ranging in age from four to fourteen.
Barbara Rubel, Griefwork Center, 2000.
Narrated by a child, this book is intended for adults to read and then share with children. Nine chapters include most frequently asked questions, activities, worksheets with helpful discussions and a list of national resources.
Jamie Gallo, M.S., LPC, MBA
An honest look at suicide, and its impact upon a little girl. This book is most appropriate for children ages six through nine. Can be used by a parent, family member or therapist in order to start a conversation about mental illness and suicide. It explores some aspects of parental mental illness and it may bring some comfort as a child begins to process their loss.
Erika Barber, MAT, CCLS, AFSP Illinois Chapter, 2016.
To order Conversations of Courage, email Illinois@afsp.org.
This 81-page interactive workbook encourages and facilitates healthy and truthful conversations between an adult caregiver and a child, meaning-making, and emotional expression following the loss of a loved one to suicide.
Carol Ann Loehr, Trafford Publishing, 2006.
Written in clear, simple language easily understood by children, this book offers hope and practical methods to explain suicide to children. It explains the difference between sadness and depression, and describes how chemical imbalances in the brain cause illnesses that can result in suicide.
Doreen Cammarata, Grief Guidance, 2000.
An illustrated book explaining depression and suicide in child-friendly language.
Sarah Montgomery, LCSW-C, and Susan Coale, LCSW-C, Chesapeake Life Center, 2014.
This unique book provides parents and caregivers with helpful information to better understand and communicate with children grieving a loss to suicide with a special focus on child development and how to talk with children of various ages