Books like The Tenth Good Thing About Barney
By Judith Viorst
For the child who's asked hard questions about death and loss, this book sits with the sadness instead of rushing past it. Quiet, tender, and honest, with gentle warmth underneath the sadness.
An 80-year-old tortoise named Oliver has shared decades in the garden with his human, Ike, who is also 80 — but when Ike stops visiting, Oliver sets out across ten gardens to ask his mother why.
A four-year-old boy loves visiting his grandmother and great-grandmother, Nana Downstairs and Nana Upstairs, until one day his mother tells him Nana Upstairs won't be there anymore.
A little dog named Daisy loves her red ball more than anything — until another dog at the park accidentally pops it, leaving her heartbroken, in a wordless story told entirely through watercolor illustrations.
A mouse family faces the loss of someone they love, and gentle Bear helps each one — including quiet little Tiny — find their own way to understand and express their grief.
An elderly Plains Indian woman dies and journeys into the afterlife her people believe in, while her family carries out the customs of preparing her body and saying goodbye.
A family leaves the comfortable, familiar house they love and moves somewhere new, discovering that home is really the people you share it with.
A gentle picture of what heaven holds for dogs — endless fields to run in, fluffy clouds for sleeping, and biscuits no dog can resist.
A little bear can't fall asleep because he's afraid of the dark, so Big Bear tries lantern after lantern before finally showing him the moon and stars outside the cave.
A gentle picture book imagines Cat Heaven, where beloved cats run through fields of sweet grass, play with favorite toys, and are cared for by angels who rub their noses and ears.
A fox and his dog share an inseparable life together until the dog dies, sending the fox into grief so deep he tears apart the garden they once tended, until an unexpected pumpkin vine slowly draws him back into the world.
After their father dies, six-year-old Marvel, her seven siblings, and their mother move into a run-down tar-paper shack deep in the Wisconsin woods and slowly turn it into a home.
A parent shares a string of tender wishes for a child — to find wonder in flying birds, to know love as vast and constant as the moon loves the sky.
