STORIES TO HELP DEAL WITH LOSS AND GRIEF
(excerpts from posts)
(If you want to retell any of the stories listed below, be sure to obtain permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain)


INPUT FROM STORYTELLERS, TEACHERS AND LIBRARIANS ON LOSS AND GRIEF

• Those of you who are involved with end-of-life care will be interested in the following website and journal. So many good articles on loss, grief, and bereavement, in addition to end of life issues, are available in the journal and the website in very well organized. The website is:
http://www2.edc.org/lastacts
Innovations in End-of-Life Care - an international journal of leaders in end-of-life care. This bimonthly, online journal features peer-reviewed promising practices in end-of-life care.




CHILDREN'S AND ADULT BOOKS ON LOSS AND GRIEF

• Arab Folktales - Beduin's Gazelle, translated by Iner Bushnaq. (1987)
Click here for book description/review.

• Brave Little Parrot, The by Rafe Martin. (1998 - Ages 4-8)
Click here for book description/review.

• Hey! Listen to This: Stories to Read Aloud, edited by Jim Trelease, contains NADIA THE WILLFUL (Dragonfly Books) by Sue Alexander. (1992)
Click here for book description/review.

• Magic Pomegranate, The: A Jewish Folktale (On My Own Folklore) by Peninnah Schram with Melanie Hall (illus). (2007 - Ages 9-12). A Jewish tale.
Click here for book description/review.

• More Ready-To-Tell Tales from Around the World by David Holt has The Story of Anniko by Charlotte Blake Alston. (2000)
Click here for book description/review.

• NADIA THE WILLFUL (Dragonfly Books) by Sue Alexander is a story to cope with grief. (1998 - Ages 4-8)
Click here for book description/review.

• Tenth Good Thing About Barney, The by Judith Viorst. (1987)
Click here for book description/review.

• Thirty-Three Multicultural Tales to Tell (American Storytelling) - Medicine Wolf by Pleasant de Spain. (1993)
Click here for book description/review.






ONLINE RESOURCES ON LOSS AND GRIEF

• The Mustard Seed. Woman has child, child dies. Goes to wise man to resuscitate child. He tells her to bring back a mustard seed from a home that has never known sorrow.
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/mourn.html

• The Appointment in Samarra by W. Somerset Maugham (1933). Servant tries to escape death by leaving city.
http://www.k-state.edu/english/baker/english320/Maugham-AS.htm
http://www.k-state.edu/english/baker/english320/sg-Maugham-AS.htm

•



AUDIO RESOUCES ON LOSS AND GRIEF






12) Bundle of Sticks by Aesop. Pulling together for the greater good, strength in numbers. .

13) Those of you who are involved with end-of-life care will be interested in the following website and journal. So many good articles on loss, grief, and bereavement, in addition to end of life issues, are available in the journal and the website in very well organized. The website is:
http://www2.edc.org/lastacts
Innovations in End-of-Life Care - an international journal of leaders in end-of-life care. This bimonthly, online journal features peer-reviewed promising practices in end-of-life care.

14) Annie and the Old One by Miska Miles at storydevi@EARTHLINK.NET
Nadia the Willful by Sue Alexander
The Fall of Freddy the Leaf by Leo Buscgalia
The Brave Little Parrot by Rafe Martin.
Stories That Nourish The Heart of Our Children in a Time of Crisis at storydevi@EARTHLINK.NET
Grandad's Prayers of the Earth by Douglas Wood

Here are some of them posted online that give some stories and Laura' tips for how to tell stories to children.
http://www.healingstory.org/crisis/crisis.html

See also Laura's site for many anecdotes about her telling stories to children impacted by 9/11, thinking like a storyteller, and other essays.
http://www.laurasimms.com
storydevi@EARTHLINK.NET

I would like to suggest my collection NOURISHING THE HEARTS OF OUR CHILDREN, particularly one of the last tales called THE WHITE SWALLOW. It is about the death of an aunt of mine andhow i dealt with it through playing with a dolly and telling the dolly tales.. A dolly that she had given me. At storydevi@EARTHLINK.NET

Cowtail Switch is another good one, collected by Courlander in a book of the same name.

Helen Eustis's Mr. Deaf and the Redheaded Woman, published by Green Tiger Press. This story wonderfully demonstrates to children that sometimes Death is welcomed as a necessary
friend. Lschaffe1@AOL.COM

The Tenth Good Thing About Barney is a wonderful book about a little boy whose cat died. Some years ago a second grader in my classroom died of leukemia. I read this book to the class, then we all wrote letters to Eddie's mother telling her the good things we remembered about Eddie. This might be helpful to the girl in your class.
yey@efn.org

There's a wonderful book, Some Folk Say: Stories of Life, Death and Beyond, by Jane Hughes Gignoux (reminds me I should put it on the HSA bibliography). The stories are divided into sections - Origins of Death, Balancing Life and Death, Lessons for Life, After Death and Reconciliation With Death. They are from all over the world and from all different cultures, faiths and perspectives. You'll recognize The Cow-Tail Switch (Afican), Five Poppy Seeds (the Buddhist finding a house without death) and Godfather Death (Grimm), but there are lots that I hadn't seen before.

For a literary approach I would pick the scene in Natalie Babbitt's Tuck Everlasting where Tuck takes young Winnie out in the rowboat to explain to her why life means change and how death is a necessary part of the wheel of life. The whole scene is no more than a few pages and stands on its own quite well.

Richard Kennedy's Oliver Hyde's Dishcloth Concert.

15) Look at this web site:
http://www.bedtime-story.com/bedtime-story/momtears.htm
I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much. - Mother Teresa

16) How Night Came Into Being
http://www.healingstory.org/crisis/night/how_night_came_into_being.html

BOOK DESCRIPTIONS/REVIEWS

• Arab Folktales - Beduin's Gazelle, translated by Iner Bushnaq. (1987)
Wife must find pot that has never been used in sorrow.

• Brave Little Parrot, The by Rafe Martin. (1998 - Ages 4-8)
The tale of a spunky parrot's heroic saving of the animals from imminent forest fire destruction against impossible odds.
When a raging fire threatens to burn down the forest, all of the animals run away in fear. All except for one brave little parrot, who has an idea. Help me, she cries to the elephants, beseeching them to fill their trunks with water to spray on the flames. Help me, she begs the cheetahs, even as they urge her to flee and save herself. But the brave little parrot will not be daunted. Can the determination and courage of one small bird be enough to save a forest? Susan Gaber's majestic illustrations and Rafe Martin's lyrical retelling bring to life an inspiring tale from ancient India that will speak to today's readers.

• Hey! Listen to This: Stories to Read Aloud, edited by Jim Trelease, contains NADIA THE WILLFUL (Dragonfly Books) by Sue Alexander. (1992)
A collection of fairy tales, folklore, and famous stories from around the world arranged for reading aloud.

• Magic Pomegranate, The: A Jewish Folktale (On My Own Folklore) by Peninnah Schram with Melanie Hall (illus). (2007 - Ages 9-12). A Jewish tale.
The contest has begun! Three brothers travel to different countries to find the most unusual gift. Each gift holds special power. But which one is the best?

• More Ready-To-Tell Tales from Around the World by David Holt has The Story of Anniko by Charlotte Blake Alston. (2000)
Story: A tale from Senegal about a girl who survives after everyone in her village dies from an illness.
Book Description: When David Holt and Bill Mooney collaborated on their original Ready-to-Tell Tales, they knew they had a tiger by the tail a how-to book for all those who have watched a master storyteller and wondered, How do they do that? School Library Journal recognized it as an extraordinary collection...it deserves a place on the shelf beside other storytelling classics. It was highly recommended by Booklist and won a truckload of awards and citations.

• NADIA THE WILLFUL (Dragonfly Books) by Sue Alexander. (1992 - Ages 4-8)
When her favorite brother disappears in the desert forever, Nadia refuses to let him be forgotten, despite her father's bitter decree that his name shall not be uttered.

• Tenth Good Thing About Barney, The by Judith Viorst. (1987)
My cat Barney died this Friday. I was very sad. My mother said we could have a funeral for him, and I should think of ten good things about Barney so I could tell them...
But the small boy who loved Barney can only think of nine. Later, while talking with his father, he discovers the tenth -- and begins to understand.

• Thirty-Three Multicultural Tales to Tell (American Storytelling) - Medicine Wolf by Pleasant de Spain. (1993)
Story: A woman who has been taken captive manages to escape from her captors and is pursued by a large gray wolf.
Book Description
People just can't live together without telling stories. We tell stories that are funny, ironic, insightful, or just simply pleasing to the tongue and ear. Stories just seem to happen. When a story happens with the force of universality, it finds its way into that pantheon of tales that is the common denominator of cultural exchange. Here are 33 such tales, collected from Brazil, China, Korea, Russia, Tibet, Africa, from America's native peoples, and other lands, and chosen for the universality.

(Updated 11/15/04; 7/13/08)