Coping with Illness
Cancer in the Family
Death and Dying
Grief
Inspiration
The Amazing Hannah: Look at Everything I Can Do!
Amy Klett
Friends of Hannah Klett and Growing Hope, 2001, 25 pages
Ages 1-6
A photo story created for a preschooler with leukemia, to help her adapt to doctor visits and treatments. Using the word "tubies" to describe the central line, its function and care, this book can be read and shown to children as young as one year.
Obtain a free copy (includes shipping and handling) by contacting the Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation at www.candlelighters.org or email info@candlelighters.org.
Chemo, Craziness & Comfort: My Book About Childhood Cancer
By Nancy Keene and Trevor Romain
Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation, 2002, 185 pages
ISBN: 0972404309
Ages 6-12
A resource book that provides practical advice for children diagnosed with cancer between 6 and 12 years of age. Warm and funny illustrations and easy-to-read text help the child (and parents) make sense of cancer. Themes address medical tests, hospitalization, and treatment, including chemotherapy, radiation, stem cell transplantation and their side effects. Offers tools and journal space to help children deal with the physical and emotional impact of both the cancer and the treatment.
Order at www.candlelighters.org .
Childhood Leukemia Guide for Families, Friends and Caregivers
Nancy Keene, O'Reilly Publishers, 2010, 503 Pages
ISBN 978-1-4493-8043-4
This most complete parent guide provides detailed and precise medical information about leukemia and the various treatment options, but also day-to-day practical advice on how to cope with procedures, hospitalization, family and friends, school, social and financial issues, communication, feelings, and, if therapy is not successful, the difficult issues of death and bereavement. Includes are the medical details and the practical advice are the voices of more than 150 parents and children who have lived with leukemia and its treatments. This book offers tools parents and caregivers to develop into a strong advocates. It also contains a personal treatment summary and long-term follow-up guide for your child to keep as a permanent record.
Henry and the White Wolf
Tyler Karu and Tim Karu
Workman Publishing, 2000, 31 pages
ISBN: 0761121358
Ages 4-8
Written and illustrated by a teenage brother and sister, this is an allegory about a sick hedgehog that is healed by the feared white wolf. Geared to help children cope with the physical discomforts and fears of prolonged medical treatment, this book can also be used with children whose parents and/or friends are ill. Included with the book is a stone for children to hold onto in hard times, a symbol, which parallels the story.
Stevie's New Blood
Kathryn Ulberg Lilleby and Chad Chronick (Illustrator)
Oncology Nursing Press, 2000, 43 pages
ISBN 1890504173
Ages 6-10; adapted and read by both older and younger children.
Stevie is undergoing bone marrow transplant (BMT) in the hopes that it will cure his leukemia. Anna, his sister - and donor - will learn what it is like to give her bone marrow. The story explains bone marrow and/or stem cell transplantation from a child's point of view and can be adapted for children of various ages. The book also can be adapted for the child whose parent is having a transplant or for the friend of a child undergoing BMT.
Order from www.ons.org/publications/books/index.shtml .
This game can be downloaded from the Make-A-Wish Foundation Web site, www.makewish.org/site/pp.asp?c=cvLRKaO4E&b=64401 .
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Mira's Month
Deborah Weinstein; Illustrated by Beth Roy
Blood and Marrow Transplantation Information Network, 1994, 34 pages
Ages: 4-9
A colorfully illustrated book designed for use with young children who have a parent with cancer who will be hospitalized for a bone marrow or stem cell transplant. Mira's Month discusses the questions children have and the feelings they often experience during this time. Woven into the story are tips for coping with their sadness and practical information about what to expect a parent to look like during and after treatment.
Read story online and order at www.bmtinfonet.org/books.html .
The Hope Tree: Kids Talk about Breast Cancer
By Laura Joffe Numeroff and Wendy Schlessel Harpham, M.D.
Simon & Schuster Children's; 2001, 32 pages
ISBN: 068984526X
Ages 5 to 10
The serious illness of a parent is challenging to children and families. Based on real situations, the authors have created a fictional support group. The group members are animals of different ages who talk about many universal issues that include: 'finding out', family meetings, and looking for the good amidst the bad. Beautiful illustrations bring these themes to life and support children to blend disappointment with hope. The vignettes offer tools and practical tips that will help children deal with frightening emotions and give them something positive to do to support their mother and the family as a whole.
Dr. Harpham's Web site at www.wendyharpham.com .
My Book About Cancer
Developed by Rebecca C. Schmidt, M.Ed.
Oncology Nursing Society, 2003, 54 pages
ISBN: 1890504335: Mother
ISBN: 189050436X: Father
Ages 3-8
This workbook for children, created by the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) is available in two versions - one for the child whose mother has cancer and one for the child whose father has the disease. It provides an avenue for young people to explore their thoughts and feelings about the cancer of a parent. Children are supported to create and discuss their own book of experiences. With the help of parents, grandparents, and other loved ones, children can identify their feelings, apprehensions, fears, and concerns as the family progresses through diagnosis and treatment. Developed as well for use by helping professionals.
Order from www.ONS.org . For those with a mother with cancer (Item INPU0546M) and for those with a father with the disease (Item INPU0546D).
Snowman On The Pitcher's Mound
Jamie Reno
Fulcrum Publishing, 2010,129 Pages
ISBN 978-1555917418
A new, realistic and poignant Middle-School aged novel which tells the story of how a 10-year-old boy copes when his mother is diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In the book, the boy, who loves baseball and his family, talks about his life, his friends, his school, and all the anger, fear, sadness and confusion prompted by his mom's unexpected illness. This touching story offers the boy's emotional changes in the child's own voice and in an accessible way. The author wanted to help young readers as well as their parents understand and appreciate a child's natural course of anger, frustration, sadness and fear. The book is for both children and grown-ups, but particularly reaches out to boys.
Why, Charlie Brown, Why: A Story About What Happens When a Friend Is Very Ill
By Charles M. Schulz, Forward by Paul Newman
Ballantine Books, 1990, 64 pages
ISBN: 0345455312
Ages 4-8
When Janice, Linus' eight-year-old friend, is diagnosed with leukemia the Peanuts characters respond with compassion. Charles Schulz tells of the effects that Janice's illness has on her family, her classmates and her friends. With simplicity and honesty, the story dispels myths and can be used to help the child return to class following cancer treatment.
Video in English and Spanish is available free and can be ordered through the Information Resource Center at (800) 955-4572. See Trish Greene Back to School Program for Children with Cancer at www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/all_page?item_id=39884 .
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The Fall of Freddie the Leaf
By Leo Buscaglia
Henry Holt & Company Inc., 2002, 30 pages
ISBN: 0805071954
Ages: 4-8
Originally published in the fall of 1982, the wonderfully wise and strikingly simple story of a leaf named Freddie is one of the most popular books of our times. How Freddie and his companion leaves change with the passing seasons and fall to the ground with a winter's snow, is an inspiring allegory illustrating the delicate balance between life and death.
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Don't Despair on Thursdays
By Adolf Moser, David Melton (Illustrator)
Landmark Editions, Inc., 1996, 61 pages
ISBN: 0933849605
Examines, in simple text, how to deal with feelings of grief when people or pets die or when friends move away.
To order call: (800)-970-4220 or email heal2grow@aol.com .
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The Jester Has Lost His Jingle
By David Saltzman
Jester Company, 1995, 64 pages
ISBN: 0964456303
Ages: 6 to 9
This is an illustrated tale, told in rhyme, about a jester who awakens one morning to find laughter missing in his kingdom. He and his helpmate, Pharley, set off on a quest to find it. They ultimately discover that not only can laughter redeem a weary world, it can also provide the best tonic for anyone facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles, including childhood hospitalization and illness.
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