A Child Dies: A Portrait of Family Grief

Rating:
Summary: The Best Book
Review: At the time of my first daughter's death in 1986, this was the *only* book I could find that was of any help to me. While other books at the time relied heavily on expressions of "faith" to guide and support bereaved parents, this exquisite book uses photographs of art and poetry from throughout history and cultures to illustrate and describe what a parent feels. It was so helpful to me to see that parents had always felt the same as I was feeling, and survived; and the book showed me this without relying on the organized religion that I felt so pressured to participate in by many well-meaning people but which honestly offered me no solace whatsoever. I found the book to be so validating of every feeling, every emotion, every terror that grief brought to me. The book was incredibly affirming to me and I appreciated the practical and honest approach it takes to supporting parents and advising their helpers.

Rating:
Summary: This caring book will be of great comfort to those in need..
Review: This highly acclaimed and consistently best-selling book was written to help grieving family members and concerned caregivers learn to cope with the death of a child. While there are no easy answers to how to deal with overwhelming loss of this sort, this book offers understanding and support with explicit guidelines and helping techniques. The text is fully illustrated with works of art and poems that are able to express in a powerful way what words sometimes cannot. This caring, warm and thoughtful book will be enormously helpful to all those who must confront the tragedy of a child's death, both victims and mental health professionals.

CONTENTS:

Preface 1 The Meaning of Loss 2 Children and Parents: A Family Perspective 3 The Process of Grieving a Child's Death 4 Death Before Birth and During Infancy 5 Death of a Young Child 6 Death of an Older Child 7 Living Without 8 Siblings and Other Survivors 9 Caring for Grieving Families 10 For Caregivers Working with Grieving Families Appendix: Books about Death and Grief for Children and Parents

Rating:
Summary: "A Child Dies" - comments of a bereaved grandfather
Review: This is an excellent book in a time of despair. I have also read "A Broken Heart Still Beats", finding that book valuable, but frankly - for our family, "A Child Dies" better filled our needs. This book uses art and poetry to help the reader connect with the timelessness and universality of grief. It is a briefer read than "A Broken Heart" and the chapters are segmented into topics such as: death of an infant,young child and older child. I found that the chapter written for specifically for caregivers useful.

The authors exude compassion, wisdom and experience. They gently confront the gruesome issues the parents of a lost child will likely encounter (martial problems, interaction with others, etc). My 9-month old grandaughter was killed the first day of the new millenia, by a drunk driver, as my daughter was walking her in her stroller. Needless to say, our families are shattered. My daughter and I found this book the best of several which we have read in these two hearbreaking weeks.