[note that generally, comments from the several friends who contributed to this list are in italics]

PICTURE BOOKS  These are often good for all ages, because they are attractive, brief and easy for an adult to share or a child to grasp in a short encounter.

The Tenth Good Thing About Barney, by Judith Viorst, about a boy’s grief for his cat, whom they bury in the garden.  His mum suggests he make a list of ten good things about his pet, and he does, but has a hard time coming up with the tenth, until he realizes Barney’s body will have a new life through the garden flowers …

Nana UpstaIrs, Nana DownstaIrs, by Tomi de Paola, about the death of a little boy’s beloved great-grandmother, who lives in his grandmother’s house and is pleasantly demented.  When Nana Upstairs dies, and the boy is a young man, he sees a shooting star to remind him of her

The Lighthouse, by Robert Munsch, actually about a girl missing her grandpa after his death, but the father takes her out to the lighthouse grandpa liked.  New to me, and a different side of Robert Munsch.

Northern Lights, by Michael Kusegak

Love You Forever, by Robert Munsch, about a baby boy-becomes-a-man’s life cycle, and a real tear-jerker for many people.  My friend Barbara Herd says this:  Personally, I hate Munsch’s Love You Forever…find it ridiculous that the mother had to sneak into her son’s room when he was asleep.

FROM Barbara Herd, former children’s librarian at the Ottawa PL, but later moved into admin, so not really aware of the newest/most current books:

Margaret Wise Brown’s The Dead Bird, which is a classic.

Also I vaguely remember

Eve Bunting’s The Happy Funeral (death of grandfather).

from Nancy Eddis, a storyteller and member of the Unitarian Church of Montreal, a similar title, but different:

I Found a Dead Bird, by Canadian author Jan Thornhill. It shows many ways of dealing with death from different cultures.

She also recommends

Lifetimes:  the beautiful way to explain death to children, by Bryan Mellonie and Robert Ingpen, about the fact that everything dies.

FROM my friend Camilla Gryski, an author, former children’s librarian at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto, and also a palliative-care-for-children clown [fabulous at all these roles!!] who says this:

I think that there is a trend toward honesty and more explanations – to the point where a child can understand death. She recommends

The Fall of Freddie the Leaf, A Story of Life for All Ages, by Leo Buscaglia, about life cycles

The Sad Book, by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Quentin Blake. about which she says:  quite an amazing exploration of grief, about his own grief when his 19 year-old son died suddenly of meningitis. But as an honest study of grief and feelings, it’s remarkable. It was a Boston Globe Horn Book Honour book.

Also a lot of people used – and were devoted to – a book called

When Dinosaurs Die:  A Guide to Understanding Death, Dino Life Guides for Families

NOVELS FOR OLDER CHILDREN  These are also often good to read aloud with younger ones.

Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White, a classic novel written 1952, which I only discovered when my own children were little. However, I never saw the film from the 1970s, because I loved my own mental images too much to have them replaced, tho’ I think the children did.  I bet the book would actually be more powerful than the film because of the original Garth Williams b&w illustrations and the way the spiderweb-written words slowly develop, but then I am very book-oriented!  Until I looked up the pub date, I thought it was written in the 70s and the film was relatively recent –time!!

Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt, also about time, was published in 1975 and I probably didn’t read it til the 1980s, when I found it both moving and magical.  Wikipedia says: as a fantasy children’s novel, the book explores the concept of immortality and the reasons why it might not be as desirable as it appears to be. It has sold over two million copies and has been called a classic of modern children’s literature.  Also has been published as an unabridged audio book three individual times, and made into a film in both 1981 and 2002.

FROM Bonnie Mabee, a wonderful school librarian in Ottawa I have known since my son was her student in Gr 8.  Retired now, she’s stayed active in the “Kid Lit” world, as some call it.  She also has grandchildren and a good memory . . .

The Borning Room by Paul Fleischman [about the typical room off the kitchen in pioneer/early homes, where the elderly parent who needs close care or mother who recently gave birth would be housed, to be near the centre of things; lovely book!]

The Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson [about the friendship of two children and death of one of them; another classic]

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, by Eleanor Coerr [non-fiction, re Hiroshima, also a classic. from Barbara Herd]

GENERAL GRANDPARENTS

Picture book titles with a terrific grandmother/father connection, not necessarily re a grandparent who has died:

The Gardener, by Sarah Stewart, based on fictional Depression Era letters from a girl who loves to garden but has been sent from her impoverished rural home to live in a big city with a grumpy single uncle, and writes simple updates to her granny.  Beautiful illustrations by David Small and quite an implicit history lesson, too.

Selina and the Bear Paw Quilt, by Barbara Smucker, about a Mennonite family who flee to Cnada during the US Civil War, but Grandma doesn’t make the journey, only sending her quilt full of memories for Selina. Illus. by Janet Wilson

Oma’s Quilt. by Paulette Bourgeois

A Trip with Grandma, by Ruth Ohis

Grandpa’s Clock, by Rachna Gilmore.  The School Library Journal review says: “…illuminates the value of intergenerational relationships and their ability to enrich the lives of both young and old.” I love knowing how Rachna, another friend, created this gentle story out of her love for her father-in-law.

FROM my Montreal active CLRT/CANSCAIP/school librarian/poet friend Carol-Ann Hoyte, who makes all the comments that follow:  a list of a some books that feature grandmothers. Some of them also deal with death.

Alego by Ningeokuluk Teevee (Groundwood Books)

The Little Word Catcher by Danielle Simard (translated from French – both the author and illustrator are Quebecers)

Grandma’s Gloves by Cecil Castellucci (Montrealer who has lived in L.A. for several years).  When her grandmother, a devoted gardener, dies, a little girl inherits her gardening gloves and feels closer to her memory.

Grandma Calls Me Beautiful by Barbara Joosse (haven’t read this one myself but is the same author who wrote Mama, Do You Love Me?)

Mile High Apple Pie by Laura Langston (Victoria, BC author)

Two Mrs. Gibsons by Toyomi Igus.  The biracial daughter of an African American father and a Japanese mother fondly recalls growing up with her mother and her father’s mother, two very different but equally loving women.

How to Take Your Grandmother to the Museum by Lois Wyse.  A young girl takes her grandmother on an outing to the natural history museum.

Bats about Baseball by Jean Little & Claire Mackay

Poppy’s Chair by Karen Hesse.  On her first summer visit to her grandmother since her grandfather’s death, Leah is saddened by his absence, but Gramm helps her learn how to remember Poppy with joy.