Bereaved Children

Bringing together fourteen experts from across the United States and Canada, Bereaved Children and Teens is a comprehensive guide to helping children and adolescents cope with the emotional, religious, social, and physical consequences of a loved one's death. The result is an indispensable reference for parents, teachers, counselors, health-care professionals, and clergy. Topics covered include what to say and what not to say when explaining death to very young children; how teenagers grieve differently from children and adults; how to translate Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish beliefs about death into language that children can understand; how ethnic and cultural differences can affect how children grieve; what teachers and parents can do to help bereaved young people at school; and activities, books, and films that help children and teens cope. "In this much-needed book, a group of carefully chosen authorities explore with sensitivity and wisdom the complex problems faced by those young people whom Rabbi Grollman so correctly calls "the forgotten mourners" . . . The authors have given us a work that is direct, thorough and--most of all--useful." --Sherwin B. Nuland, M.D., F.A.C.S. author of How We Die, winner of the 1994 National Book Award

Earl A. Grollman, a pioneer in the field of crisis intervention, was rabbi of the Beth El Temple Center in Belmont, Massachusetts, for 36 years. A certified death educator and counselor, he was cited as "Hero of The Heartland" for his work with the families and volunteers of the Oklahoma City bombing.

Dr. Grollman has spoken at many colleges, clergy institutes, seminaries, physicians' forums, and hospital nursing associations, and has frequently addressed support groups such as The Compassionate Friends and Mothers Against Drunk Driving. He has also appeared on numerous national television and radio programs, including the Oprah Winfrey Show, Children's Journal, All Things Considered, and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. He was featured on National Public Radio's The End of Life: Exploring Death in America series in the roundtable discussion on grief and bereavement.

He is the author of several books including Living When a Loved One Has Died, Straight Talk about Death for Teenagers, and Living When a Young Friend Commits Suicide.