Straight Talk About Death for Teenagers: How to Cope With Losing Someone You Love
Grollman, Earl A.
Order
Reviews
Kirkus
An insightful theologian/grief expert (“the cure for grief is to grieve”) opens with Terry Kettering’s attention-grabbing poem, “The Elephant in the Room.” Teens’ grief–like, Grollman suggests, the huge (but unobserved) elephant–is often overlooked or minimized. Addressing this gap, he presents just a few on- target, incisive lines on each page–to be read, like poetry, with deliberation–on topics such as “the first days after a death” and “facing your future.” The occasional humor is not inappropriate (“Why is there a special relationship between grandparents and grandchildren? They have a common enemy–the parent”); but the treatment of special relationships and circumstances suffers from Grollman’s brevity. He acknowledges that it’s normal to feel that one’s own grief is the worst; some teens will be disappointed not to find their particular situation treated more fully. Still, all are likely to find consolation in the book as a whole, and in completing (in the concluding workbook pages) statements like “The last thing I did with you was…” and “What scares me the most is…” (Nonfiction. 12+)
Amazon Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
Amazon Reader Review
This is a great book for helping teens cope with the loss of a loved one, whether it was a close friend or family member. The book is written with short, easy to read sentences and paragraphs. The chapters are organized in useful topics like ‘suicide’, ‘loss of a friend’, ‘long term illness’ … so the reader can locate those areas that pertain to their own situation. Having lost my own mother when I was just 16 (20 years ago) I have bought 3 copies of this book already – I give them out to teens who are grieving the loss of a loved one. If you are a teen grieving the loss of a loved one or if you are helping someone in this situation, I highly recommend this book.