11 Books to Help Children Cope with the Loss of a Parent

The death or absence of a parent is an extremely traumatic experience for a child. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to helping children grieve, cope with, or process their feelings in difficult circumstances. Instead, you simply have to be there for them in any way possible—to listen to their stories, help maintain normalcy, and to be willing to talk to them about what’s happened in a way that makes sense to them.

For some children, their understanding of the difference between the absence of a parent and the loss of one is muddied. They can only feel what they’re feeling—that the parent they loved is no longer around. If you’re in the midst of this experience with a little one, these eleven books may help your child to cope with their feelings. They sensitively handle the topic of death, of divorce, and of loss, and give a child the affirmation they need that it’s okay to grieve, okay to be angry, and okay to be sad. So many children think that they have to forget about their parent to move forward, and are terrified of doing that. These books are subtle enough to help your child learn coping skills without them feeling like they are being forced upon them.

Author Julia Alvarez explores death, life, love, and grief in this lyrical picture book.

Woodcut artist Sabra Field—whose prints Alvarez discovered at the library while on hunt for Goya art books—illustrated the words with stunning visceral images.

Alvarez says she wrote this story after she began “losing many of the people I love. One of the difficult things about coming from a culture where your extended familia is considered your ‘nuclear’ family is that you don’t just lose a set of parents, a couple of aunts and uncles, but dozens upon dozens of tías, tíos, madrinas, padrinos, abuelitas, abuelitos.  A whole flank of familia is suddenly gone.”

There’s also a Spanish-language edition of this book, ¿Donde va a parar?

Todd Parr, one of our family’s favorite picture book authors, wrote and illustrated this book on grief and loss without mentioning the word “death.” Because this story is told through the voice of a fish, it might be the perfect way for young children to relate to losing someone. Say, a parent who moves across the country during a divorce. Or, a mother who recently died.

In the end, Parr comforts his readers with the reminder that “there will always be someone to love you and hold you tight.”

Old Turtle was a kind friend and a teacher who helped others. “He made his world a better place. / When he was done, the ocean took him back.” The day he died, he “swam his last swim and took his last breath.”

Like Parr’s book, the word “death” is not found in this story. A gentle story with beautiful illustrations, there’s no mention of religion.

Gus and Ida spend all their days together, even after Ida gets sick. They snuggle and comfort each other until Ida’s terminal illness takes her life. Santoso’s paintings add so much to this beautiful story of love, grief, and loss, and Levis ends on a hopeful note.

Joanna Rowland, a kindergarten teacher, shows readers that grief isn’t always linear. You’ll have some good days and some very sad ones. Thea Baker has illustrated this book with mixed-media collages from fabric and textured papers. There’s a guide for parents at the end of the book with information from a Christian perspective on how to help children grieve after losing someone they love, as well as tips on how to create their own memory box.

What books have your little ones found helpful in times of loss?