Reviews

Amazon Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up-A book that is written in clear, user-friendly prose. Each page presents a different idea designed to help teens recognize mourning as a natural process connected with loss, reassuring them that they should not be afraid of deep, sometimes uncontrollable emotions, and showing them how to release grief in healthy, positive ways. Several suggestions appear under each heading; many of them encourage readers to express their feelings in a journal. The book has a comfortable tone to it, without taking away from the very definite need to deal with grief. It seems to work with, rather than talk at teens as they tackle the problem/solution process. A good first step toward admitting the need for and getting help.Kim Harris, Newman Riga Library, Churchville, NY

From Booklist

Gr. 6-12. When teenagers lose loved ones, they often feel confusion as well as heartache. Wolfelt, whose decades of experience in grief work with teens informs his ideas, offers 100 ways to facilitate grieving and come to terms with loss. Although the instinctual desire may be to push intense feelings away, Wolfelt encourages teens to attend the funeral, visit the gravesite, and even to seek out smells that call the loved one to mind. He also counsels teens to avoid “techno-escape,” using television and the Web to keep from feeling the pain. For periodic perusal more than a straight read-through, this book offers practical and constructive tasks that will bring teens into contact with their feelings. A unique approach to an important subject, this will be a good companion to Earl Grollman’s Straight Talk about Death for Teenagers (1993). John Green
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Barnes & Noble Editorial Reviews

VOYA

What kind of comfort can one offer a grieving teen? At this time in their lives, when independence is so fiercely held, how can one nurture them through the pain of irreversible loss? Wolfelt offers a hundred simple ways in each of these two books, one for teens and one for the adults in their lives. Both have an identical format; each page contains one suggestion, with some brief thoughts of illumination, such as “If you have a pet, let her comfort you.” Wolfelt goes on to explain the strength of a pet’s uncritical love, how one can talk and cry in front of a pet without restraint. Each book begins with an introduction explaining the difference between grief and mourning. Wolfelt then gives his Six Needs of Mourning. These are delivered as imperatives, with Wolfelt anticipating teen resistance and respectfully insisting that the mourning process be observed. Wolfelt has written other books for children and adults on mourning. The wonderful, healing suggestions he offers readily can help persons of any age, but each book focuses on the specific needs of the targeted age group. On a personal note, when these books were given to a friend whose thirteen year old son died in a car accident last summer, leaving behind a twin brother, she expressed that at last there was a book to help her son in practical ways. In these books, the teen’s need to grow separately from adults and the conflicting need to take increased shelter from caring adults during a mourning period is well recognized. Wolfelt encourages adults to realize that teens are “still kids,” and that they will sometimes need to behave more like brokenhearted children than aloof teenagers. It is important to accept this dichotomywhile continuing to honor the dignity of a teen’s fragile maturity. The author gently reshapes misconceptions about what it means to be strong and “get on with your life.” Although each journey through grief is unique, these books can ease more than a little pain and will give caring people effective tools for reaching out.

Amazon Reader Review

This book is wonderful. My son passed away at the age of 24 and my 15 year old daughter was finding it hard to find her way through this difficult grieving process. The book touched upon so many important and pertinent facts such as your grief is unique, just like your relationship to the person you lost is unique. Whether it’s the loss of a sibling, parent, grandparent or other person in a teen’s life, I think this book really addresses many of the issues that teens are concerned with when dealing with a loss in their lives.