How It Feels When a Parent Dies

By Jill Krementz

Book Overview

In this moving and insightful book about what it means to children when a parent dies, eighteen children-boys and girls, black and white, from seven to sixteen years old-speak openly, honestly, unreservedly, of their experiences and feelings. And as they speak we see them in photographs-with their surviving parent, with their brothers and sisters, with their pets, in the midst of their everyday lives. Their stories are set down here so that children experiencing the loss of a mother or a father may know that others have felt the same anguish and guilt, confusion and anger-and that these feelings are normal, even appropriate. It is liberating to listen to these children speak from their hearts on so profoundly personal and important a subject, and to realize how their words may be of help and comfort, whether read by a child alone or shared with a parent. Book jacket.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394519116
• ISBN13: 9780394519111
• Release Date: May 1981
• Publisher: Knopf
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 4.9" x 3.2" x 0.5"
• Age Range: 9 to 14 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 9

Customer Reviews

Window into Grief

I lost my Father when I was 3 years old, too young to remember him, and only had my three older sisters and mothers memories to steal a peek at him from. My family didnt talk about him, because the sadness was too much to deal with, and I didnt know one single other child who had lost a parent growing up so I felt like a freak. I picked this book up the other day, wondering if any of these childrens stories were similar to mine, and found that every one of them carried a mirrored image of my grief. It was published in 1988, and the pictures prove that, but each story is a timeless one of loss, and confusion, and guilt and the everyday struggle to "deal" with the death of a parent that NO child should have to endure. I wish I had found this as a child, I would not have felt so alone. I found myself at the end wondering how each of them are doing now, in 2009, It would be an interesting read to find out how their losses as children affect them now.

A variety of feelings for a variety of children

I am a high school counselor. I bought this book to have in my office for my students to have access to. The short writings hold a range of reactions to the death of a parent. The authors come from different backgrounds, situations and circumstances, yet they hold one thing in common: losing a parent. Honest writing. Great for adolescents and adults.

This book speaks the truth

As a long-time child therapist I have used many books and other methods to help children cope with this most painful of losses. This book heals young people with its reality, with the variety of experiences and feelings presented, with its loving approach to the feelings they have felt but feared no one else had ever felt. This book is invaluable.