Books
List provided by Missouri Hospice & Palliative Care Association
*Listing does not constitute endorsement
You may be able to find these and other books at your local library, bookstore, or online.
Grief and Loss:
A Time to Mourn, A Time to Dance – Help for the Losses in Life
From Aid Association for Lutherans 1-800-225-5225
72 pages of help for healing from many kinds of illnesses and losses, with 9 of those
pages as references to numerous other sources of help
Beyond Grief – A Guide for Recovering from the Death of a Loved One – By Carol
Staudacher
The Grief Recovery Handbook
See the Web site www.grief-recovery.com for ordering
Companion Through the Darkness: Inner Dialogues on Grief – by
Stephanie
Ericsson
Don’t Take My Grief Away From Me – by Doug Manning
Letters to My Husband – by Fern Field Brooks
Good Grief – by Granger Westberg
Grief and loss through a Christian perspective
Why Are the Casseroles Always Tuna? A Loving Look at the Lighter
Side of Grief – by Darcie Sims
No Time for Good-byes: Coping with Sorrow, Anger and Injustice
After a Tragic Death – by J.H. Lord
For those whose loved one experienced a sudden, and tragic or violent death
A Grief Observed – by C.S. Lewis
The author’s efforts to console himself after the death of his wife, reflecting on the
fundamental issues of life, death and how one’s faith is affected by the loss of a loved one
Living When A Loved One Has Died – by Earl Grollman
When Bad Things Happen to Good People – by Harold S. Kushner
Rabbi Kushner wrote this book when he and his wife learned of their infant son’s major
illness. This is a look at why the righteous suffer, reasons for suffering, the role of
religion in our losses and our relationship with God as we struggle with our hurting
Life is Goodbye, Life is Hello: Grieving Well Through All Kinds of Losses – by Alla
Bozarth-Campbell
Written by an Episcopal priest and therapist looking at all aspects of grieving and a
variety of lifetime changes and losses
Making Loss Matter – by Rabbi David Wolpe
Based on ancient Jewish teachings, deals not only with death, but with many of the
painful losses in life
Winter Grief, Summer Grace: Returning to Life After a Loved One
Dies – by James E. Miller
Offers relief to grievers using reflective text, photographs and suggestions for healing
and coping
Grief and Loss:
Chicken Soup for the Grieving Soul
A Guide to Understanding Guilt During Bereavement by Robert Baugher
Understanding Anger During Bereavement by Robert Baugher
What is anger, what causes anger and suggestions for coping with anger
Empty Cradle, Broken Heart-Surviving the Death of Your Baby by
Deborah L.
Davis
Talking About Death-A Dialogue Between Parent and Child By Earl Grollman
Highly recommended by Parent's Magazine
Giving Sorrow Words By Candy Lightner (Founder of MADD)
No Time for Goodbyes – Coping with Sorrow, Anger and Injustice After A Tragic
Death By Janice H. Lord
How to Go on Living When Someone You Loves Dies Theresa A. Rando,
PhD.
Understanding Grief: Helping Yourself Heal Alan D. Wolfelt, PhD.
Living Beyond Loss - Walsh and McGoldrick
The Mourning Handbook: The Most Comprehensive Resources Offering
Practical and Compassionate Advice on Coping with all Aspects of Death and
Dying – by Helen Fitzgerald
Grieving Men:
Swallowed by a Snake: the Gift of the Masculine Side of Healing
by Thomas R. Golden
Men and Grief – A Guide for Men Surviving the Death of Loved One by Carol
Staudacher
When Men Grieve: Why Men Grieve Differently and How You Can Help
by
Elizabeth Levang
The Death of a Wife: Reflections for a Grieving Husband (31 Stories and Poems)
by Robert Vogt
When a Man Faces Grief/ A Man You Know is Grieving
by James E. Miller
Widower: When Men Are Left Alone (Death, Value and Meaning)
by Phyllis Silverman
Men Don’t Cry, Women Do: Transcending Gender Stereotypes of Grief
by Kenneth J. Doka and Terry L. Martin
Getting to the Other Side of Grief: Overcoming the Loss of a Spouse
(Not just for men but for spouses experiencing loss)
By Susan Zonnebelt-Smeenge and Robert DeVries
Meditations, Prayers and Scripture:
A Time to Grieve – Meditations for Healing after the Death of a Loved One – By
Carol Staudacher
Healing After the Loss – By Martha Whitmore Hickman
A year's worth of daily meditations for working through grief
Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled – By E.J. Saleska
Prayers and scripture texts for the bereaved
Heaven – by George Beiderwieden
Consoling Those Grieving:
My Friend, I Care – The Grief Experience – By Barbara Karnes
I Know Just How You Feel – by Erin Linn
The Resilient Spirit – Polly Young-Eisendrath, Ph.D.
What Will Help Me? 12 Things to Remember When You Have Suffered a Loss
and
How Can I Help? & 12 Things to Do When Someone You Know Suffers A Loss –
by James E. Miller
Two short books with practical, caring, comforting words for those who are experiencing
loss and/or for those who wish to comfort others in their loss
Finding the Right Words: Offering Care and Comfort When You Don’t Know
What to Say – by Wilfred Bockleman
Survivors of Suicide
That Nothing Be Wasted by Mary Langford (a mother’s story surviving the
suicide death of her son)
Dancing With the Skeleton – By Centering Corporation
Handbook of Hope by Mary Burgess
Losing Parents in Midlife:
Midlife Orphan-Facing Life’s Choices Now that Your Parents Are Gone – by Jane
Brooks
On Grieving the Death of a Father – by Harold J. Smith
Recollections of fathers’ deaths by a variety of well-known personalities
Death of a Child:
Our Stories of Miscarriage: Healing with Words – by Rachel and Fitton Faldat
50 personal stories of those suffering from miscarriages, written to help comfort and
give hope to those also experiencing such loss
At the Death of a Child – by Donald Deffner
Addresses the emotional, physical and spiritual anguish bereaved parents experience
and communicates the hope found in the Gospel
They’re All Dead Aren’t They? – by Joy Swift
A young mother tragically losses 5 children and finds recovery and health through faith
Angelic Presence by Cathy Lammerts and Sue Friedeck (a book on baby loss)
God is a Birdwatcher by Linda Musser (on child loss)
Roses in December by Marilyn Heavilin (she has lost 3 of her 5 children at
different
times in her life)
Fly Away Home by Deborah Davis, PhD. (for bereaved parents who turned
away from
medical intervention for their critically ill child)
The Walking Wounded by Beverly Foote Barbo (a mother’s story of her son’s AIDS related
death)
Left Behind by Carol Kifer (a mother’s story of the loss of her teenage daughter)
Never Too Old for a Lullaby by Juanita White (surviving the death of an
adult child)
Into the Valley and Out Again by Richard Edler (a father’s journey after the unexpected
death of his son)
Andy’s Mountain by Dwight Patton (observations and conclusions about grief from the
death of a child)
When the Bough Breaks by Judith Bernstein (offers comfort to bereaved
parents)
When Good-Bye is Forever by John Bramblett
Butterflies, Angels and Roses by Frances Wohlenhaus-Munday (Messages of
hope
and healing)
What to do When the Police Leave by Bill Jenkins (a victim’s father addresses the
special needs of traumatic loss with insight, sensitivity,
support and comfort)
Death of a Grandchild:
For Bereaved Grandparents by Margaret Gerner (addresses the issues
are facing when experiencing this double grief)
When a Grandchild Dies by Nadine Galinsky (a guide for grandparents
own grief while comforting their child)
grandparents
working their
Helping Grieving Children
For 4 and up
What on Earth Do You Do When Somebody Dies? – Trevor Romain
Aarvy Aardvark Finds Hope – Donna O’Toole
The Empty Place – Roberta Temes, PhD.
Lifetimes – Myran Mellonie and Robert Ingpen
Badger’s Parting Gift- Susan Varley
**When Dinosaurs Die- Laurie Krasney Brown and Marc Brown
The Fall of Freddie the Leaf-Leo Buscaglia
**The Invisible String-Patrice Karst and Geoff Stevenson
**Rainbow Feelings of Cancer-Carrie and Chia Martin
**I Miss You-Pat Thomas
For Parents
Helping Children Cope with the Loss of a Loved One –
William C. Kroen, PhD., LMHC
Helping Children Grieve: When Someone They Love DiesTheresa Huntley
A Child’s View of Grief: A Guide for Caring Adults- Alan D. Wolfelt, PhD.
The Loss That Is Forever: The Lifelong Impact of the Early Death of a Mother or
Father-Maxine Harris, PhD
For Teens
Common Threads of Teenage Grief- Janet Tyson
The Grieving Teen- Helen Fitzgerald
Straight Talk about Death for Teenagers – Earl A. Grollman
Help for the Hard Times-Earl Hipp
Eulogies and Epitaphs:
Remembrances and Celebrations: A Book of Eulogies, Elegies, Letters and
Epitaphs – by Pantheon Books
A Labor of Love: How to Write a Eulogy – by Garry Schaeffer.
A self-help author guides people with no time or experience in a how-to
for writing
highly personal expressions of love, respect and memory