Friends from my hometown had a baby boy a few days into [name]May[/name], at about 4 days old they took him back to the hopsital because his colour was off, and he wasn’t sleeping or eating well. After being airlifted to a larger centre he was diagnosed with a very serious heart defect, and he did not survive. They have a 3 yr old boy as well, so I’m wondering if anyone knows of any books that might talk about death in a toddler friendly way? I plan to send them a card, and wanted to include a couple of books (he loves Cars) for their son.
Recommendations?
I’m so sorry to hear that, my condolences to the family and your family.
I’m not sure how age appropriate it is, but [name]Michael[/name] [name]Rosen[/name]'s ‘Sad Book’ is one about grief that has been recommended to me. [name]Deb[/name] Gilori seems to be good at big concepts to me, ‘No Matter What’ deals with love and talks about how it endures after we’re gone, this is the closest I’ve got with my daughter to talking about death yet. [name]Deb[/name] Gilori also wrote ‘Always and [name]Forever[/name]’ about death and grief, I’m guessing this would also be a good bet.
…and an old classic, “The Tenth Good Thing about [name]Barney[/name].”
Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll look those up.
And yes, very sad. I’m not super close with the mom and dad, and we’re in touch mainly because of facebook, but I do know they were expecting a healthy baby, and had no idea what was to come.
“Water Bugs and Dragonflies” - [name]Doris[/name] Stickney
Excellent book. Can’t recommend it enough.
Another book, while probably not helpful for a toddler, but might help older children and adults. “The Next Place” - [name]Warren[/name] [name]Hanson[/name]. It is a beautiful book with beautiful illustrations. If you google it as a poem - you will find the same text that is found in the book.
What a great friend you are! They need all the support they can get!