HIT: Readalouds/death of parent

[Shayne Russell <srussell@VOICENET.COM>]

Thank you all for your help with a teacher's request for a suitable book to
read to a class (6th grade) whose classmate lost his father this week.  I
wanted to share the responses in case they'll be useful to someone else,
too.  I've listed the titles, then followed that with people's descriptions
of the story and/or reason for suggesting the book.

You Shouldn't Have to Say Good-Bye by Patricia Hermes
Missing May by Cynthia Rylant
How it feels when a parent dies by Jill Krementz
Coping when a parent dies by Janet Grosshandler
Grandpa Bill's Song by Jane Yolen
The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck
Two of Them...Aliki
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
Mick Harte was Here, by Barbara Park
The Very Best of Friends by Wilde?
Goodbye Everett Anderson or... Everett Anderson says goodbye
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A good read aloud novel is You Shouldn't Have to Say Good-Bye by Patricia
Hermes.  It deals with the death by cancer of a mother of a 13 year old
girl.   The closing chapters dealing with her mom's death are pretty powerful.

Have you thought about _Missing May_, Newbery winner from a few years back.
It's a lovely story about the death of an aunt(?) but gives a great insight
into the grieving process.

Krementz, Jill.  How it feels when a parent dies.
Eighteen young people ranging in age from seven to sixteen discuss the
questions, fears, and bereavement they experienced when one of their
parents died.

Grosshandler, Janet.  Coping when a parent dies.
note: this is in the young adult collection.

 I would suggest and old Pearl S. Buck work titled _The Big Wave_.  It is
the story of a boy who sees hisfamily swept away by a tidal wave as he
watches from above on the hillside. He passes out.  His friend's father
realizes that "Life is stronger than death." and that over time his hurt
will heal.  With the help of his friend and his friend's little sister this
becomes true.  It is a very short book (about 90 pages) but the message is
something all of us learn....that is, while our heart is broken in the
present, over time it will heal, because
"Life is stronger than death."

Two of Them...Aliki (trade book) about a child and grandfather

One of my favorite books is Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt.  It might
not help the child with dealing with his feelings directly but there is a
wonderful scene in the book when the father explains to the girl how living
forever may not be so great and that life moves in stages and we are
probably all better off experiencing them.

Mick Harte was Here, by Barbara Park is a possibility.  It is a story of a
girl who loses her brother to a car/bike accident.  It is short for a novel,
simply written, and we follow her and her parents through the grief process.
It is short enough to read in three or four sessions.

Picture book treatments of death/grief include:
The Very Best of Friends by Wilde?  an older couple, the man dies, the woman
and cat go through the grief process-- both get very depressed and show it
in different ways, but become friends at the end.  Very simple but effective.

Goodbye Everett Anderson or... Everett Anderson says goodbye.  It lists the
stages of grief and shows Everett going through them.
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Thank you all, once again!

Shayne


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Shayne Russell
Educational Media Specialist & KidsConnect Volunteer
Mt. Laurel Hartford School
Mt. Laurel, NJ
srussell@voicenet.com
http://www.voicenet.com/~srussell

KidsConnect is a question-answering and referral service on the Internet,
provided by the American Association of School Librarians, a division of the
American Library Association
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