Books for Adults
1. Raising Our Children to be Resilient (A guide to helping children cope with trauma in today's
world) by Linda Goldman, 2006
2. Please Stop Laughing at Me (One woman's inspirational story) by Jodee Blanco. School bullying. One
child's experience of being shunned and physically abused by her classmates from elementary school
through high school. How bullying is often misunderstood and mishandled by schools, parents and the
mental health community. 2003
3. Coming Out, Coming In (Nurturing the well-being and inclusion of gay youth in mainstream society) by
Linda Goldman, 2008. A comprehensive primer for psychologists, clinicians, educators, and families to
help us how to provide the care, respect, and unconditional love that all youth deserve, regardless of
differences.
4. Lost at School (Why our kids with behavioral challenges are falling through the cracks and how
we can help them) by Ross W. Greene, Ph.D , author of The Explosive Child.
5. Life and Loss (A guide to help grieving children) by Linda Goldman, 2000
6. Helping Your Kids Cope with Divorce the Sandcastles Way (based on the program mandated in family
courts nationwide) by M. Gary Neuman, 1998
7. When a Parent Has Cancer (A guide to caring for your children) by Wendy Schlessel Harpham,
MD, author of After Cancer , 2004
8. How to Help Children through a Parent's Serious Illness (Supportive, practical advice from a
leading child-life specialist) by Kathleen McCue, MA, CCLS, 1994
9. Beneath the Mask: Understanding Adopted Teens (The Center for Adoption Support and Education
for therapists and parents.) by Debbie Riley, MS, with John Meeks, MD, 2006
10. The Triple Bind: Saving Our Teenage Girls from Today's Pressure (Be Pretty, Sweet and Nice, Be
Athletic, be Competitive and Get Straight A's, Be Impossibly Perfect) by Stephen Hinshaw, PhD,
with Rachel Kranz 2009
11. The Curse of the Good Girl: Raising Authentic Girls with Courage and Confidence by Rachel
Simmons, author of Odd Girl Out, 2009
12. Healing Your Grieving Heart for Kids: 100 Practical Ideas (Simple advice and activities for children
after a death) by Alan Wolfelt. Letting out our grief is called mourning. This books helps children mourn
so they can feel better and live a happy and full life again.
13. Healing a Teen’s Grieving Heart (100 practical ideas for families, friends and caregivers) by Alan
Wolfelt. An ideal resource for parents, teachers, coaches and others who want to help a teen in grief.
14. The Seasons of Grief; Helping Your Children Grow through Their Loss by Donna Gaffney. A helpful
book for both parents and professionals with important advice on helping children grow through crises.
15. Suicide Prevention, Intervention and Postvention by Earl Grollman. How to recognize the warning
signs of potential suicide, how to intervene when a suicide has been attempted, and how to comfort the
family after a life has been taken.
16. What Does That Mean: A Dictionary of Death, Dying and Grief Terms for Grieving Children and
Those Who Love Them. By Harold Ivan Smith and Joy Johnson
17. Never Too Young to Know: Death in Children’s Lives by Phyllis Rolfe Silverman The experience of
death and loss is unavoidable, and this book offers practical and a theoretical approach to how children
cope with death. The wide range of effects of loss upon children are explored, the challenges they face
as they grieve and the ways of supporting them as they change and grow in the process.
18. Bereaved Children and Teens (A support guide for parents and professionals) Edited by Earl
Grollman, rabbi and author of books on death and loss. A complete resource for parents and
professionals seeking to help children cope with the death of someone they know.
19. Straight Talk about Death for Teenagers: by Earl Grollman. An excellent book for adults and teens.
20. Talking About Death: A Dialogue between Parent and Child by Earl Grollman. Award-winning book.
Named hero of the heartland for his work with children following the Oklahoma City bombing, Grollman
offers helpful and sensitive advice for families coping with loss.
21. Teens Who Hurt: Clinical Interventions to Break the Cycle of Adolescent Violence by Kenneth
Hardy and Tracey Laszloffy. Authors identify four critical factors that push some adolescents to commit
harmful, even deadly acts: devaluation, erosion or community, dehumanized loss and rage. Guidance on
connecting with aggressive teens, and managing difficult situations are discussed.
22. How to Help Children through a Parent’s Serious Illness by Kathleen McCue. Practical handbook that
prepares parents to address children’s fears with honest and profound empathy.
23. When a Parent Has Cancer (A guide to caring for your children) by Wendy Schlessel Harpham, MD.
Provides comfort and reassurance and practical advice to families facing cancer. A physician and cancer
survivor, offers help for parents. Also included is a book called Becky and the Worry Cup, a children’s
book that tells the story of a 7 year old girl’s experiences with her mother’s cancer.
24. Life and Loss (A guide to help grieving children) by Linda Goldman. A teaching manual for everyone
who works, lives, or loves grieving children. Teaches adults to help young people through the grief
process with care, understanding and love.
25. The Goldfish Went on Vacation (a memoir of loss and learning to tell the truth about it) by Patty
Dann. A touching memoir about loss and what comes after. A collage of vignettes chronicles the story
of a wife slowly losing her husband whose brain could no longer remember the purpose of a paperclip.
Out of a tragedy, she has created a book to help others live. She guides her young son through this
ordeal with patience, honesty and true presence.
26. Breaking the Silence (A guide to helping children with complicated grief- suicide, homicide, AIDS,
violence and abuse) by Linda Goldman. Designed for educators, mental health professionals, caregivers
and parents, it presents techniques, words, activities and methods to initiate discussion of these
sensitive issues. Provides valuable tools to break down the process of grieving for children. Resources
are offered for facilitating the grieving process at home, school or in treatment.
27. Helping the Bereaved Child (grief gardening, growth through grief and other touchstones for
caregivers) by Alan Wolfelt, Ph.D. A must-read for child counselors, hospice caregivers, funeral directors,
school counselors, teachers, clergy, and parents. Understand children and grief, counseling techniques,
helping grieving children at school, helping the grieving adolescent and self-care for the child’s
counselor.
28. But I Didn’t Say Goodbye (for professionals helping child suicide survivors) by Barbara Rubel. A
practical approach to working with children who are suffering the loss of a loved one due to suicide.
29. After a Parent’s Suicide (helping children heal) by Margo Requarth. Helps adults explain suicide to a
child and how children grieve, how grief impacts adolescents, as well as spiritual and religious
perspectives on suicide and how to help children return to normalcy.
30. No Time to Say Goodbye (surviving the suicide of a loved one) By Carla Fine. Brings suicide survivors
from the darkness into the light, speaking frankly and with compassion about the overwhelming feelings
of confusion, guilt, shame, anger and loneliness that are shared by all survivors.
31. Caring for Your Grieving Child (engaging activities for dealing with loss and transition) by Martha
Wakenshaw. Excellent resource of information and advice for both parents of children who are grieving
and professionals who work with children. It is a perfect guide to a child’s response to stress and loss.
32. The Worst Loss (how families heal from the death of a child) by Barbara D. Rosof. Written by a
children’s psychotherapist, the author draws on families’ stories as well as research on grieving to
answer questions such as: how do families survive the worst loss? What helps people heal? What have
families and clinicians learned that will help others through their loss and enable them to rebuild their
lives? This book will serve as a powerful guide.
33. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. An author shares an intensely personal yet universal
experience: a portrait of a marriage and a life, in good time and bad times-that will speak to anyone who
has ever loved a husband or wife or child. This is the story of how one woman attempts to make sense
of the weeks and months after the sudden death of her husband.
34. Surviving a Sibling (Discovering Life After Loss) by Scott Mastley. Sibling grief is profound, with
universal components that are minimally addressed by grief specialists. This book describes the
attachment, expectation and response to loss through Scott’s experience of the death of his brother.
35. When Children Grieve (for adults to help children deal with death, divorce, pet loss, moving and
other losses) by John James and Russell Friedman.
36. The Grief Recovery Handbook by J. James and R. Friedman. Wonderful book with actual steps to
take that can help people move through their own grief in healthy ways.
37. A Grief Disguised (how the soul grows through love) by Jerry Sittser. Loss is a word that many of us
fear and few of us can evade. It stalked Jerry one night and struck with full fury on a lonely road in
Idaho. In an instant, a tragic accident claimed three generations of his family: his mother, his wife and
his young daughter. This is a moving medication on the losses we all suffer and the grace that can
transform us. An amazingly important book.
38. A Grief like No Other (surviving the violent death of someone you love) by Kathleen O’Hara. This is
helpful if someone has dealt with a violent death from such things as: suicide, drug overdose, and death
by vehicular homicide and drunk drivers. This type of grief is different as it may be filled with intense
feelings of guilt, anger, PTSD, and at times years spent with legal ramifications. A seven-stage plan to
help those survive the unthinkable.
39. Liberating Losses (when death brings relief) by Jennifer Elison, and Chris McGonigle. A pioneering
and remarkable book about a profound and complex subject not previously addressed or understood. As
taboo as it is to admit, not every death brings great sadness. Labeled “nontraditional loss response” by
therapists, a positive reaction following a death is more frequently encountered now that medical
treatments keep people alive much longer than they or their families may wish.
40. The Price of Privilege (how parental pressure and material advantage are creating a generation of
disconnected and unhappy kids) by Madeline Levine, Ph.D. With up-to-date scientific research,
compelling clinical cases and a refined sense of empathy, Levine teaches us about the difficult
challenges faced by affluent families, and provides useful strategies for helping them toward more
fulfilling lives. Teaches parents to teach their children what they need to learn the most, how to manage
their emotions and impulses, form healthy relationships, think for themselves and become useful, welladjusted and moral people.
41. Being a Wounded Healer (how to heal ourselves while we are healing others) by Douglas C.
Smith. A wonderful book for everyone who wants to find healing in the midst of pain and suffering.
42. Ambiguous Loss (learning to live with unresolved grief) by Pauline Boss. Frozen sadness: this is what
we have when we cannot really know what we have lost. And this is what Boss illuminates, and helps to
ease as she addresses such things as divorce, adoption, addiction, chronic mental illness, immigration, or
Alzheimer’s. A wonderful resource.
43. Here If You Need Me: a true story A remarkable journey from grief to faith to happiness. Dramatic,
funny, deeply moving and simply unforgettable- it is a story of finding God by helping others and offers
proof of the miracles that happen every day when a heart is grateful and life and love restored. Author
lost husband in a sudden accident, and had four young children. She became a minister and then served
as chaplain for search and rescue missions in the Maine woods, giving comfort to people whose loved
ones were missing, and to the wardens who sometimes had to deal with dreadful outcomes.