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, NYCopyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


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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Book Description
With sensitivity and insight, this series offers suggestions for healing activities that can help survivors learn to express their grief and mourn naturally. Acknowledging that death is a painful, ongoing part of life, they explain how people need to slow down, turn inward, embrace their feelings of loss, and seek and accept support when a loved one dies. Each book, geared for mourning adults, teens, or children, provides ideas and action-oriented tips that teach the basic principles of grief and healing. These ideas and activities are aimed at reducing the confusion, anxiety, and huge personal void so that the living can begin their lives again. Included in the books for teens and kids are age-appropriate activities that teach younger people that their thoughts are not only normal but necessary.


About the Author
Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D., is an internationally known teacher, grief counselor, and author of Understanding Grief, Creating Meaningful Funeral Ceremonies, and The Journey Through Grief. He is director of the Center for Loss and Life Transition and faculty member at the University of Colorado Medical School's department of family medicine. He is the "Children and Grief" columnist for Bereavement magazine and has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, and NBC's The Today Show. He lives in Fort Collins, Colorado.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

With sensitivity and insight, this series offers suggestions for healing activities that can help survivors learn to express their grief and mourn naturally. Acknowledging that death is a painful, ongoing part of life, they explain how people need to slow down, turn inward, embrace their feelings of loss, and seek and accept support when a loved one dies. Each book, geared for mourning adults, teens, or children, provides ideas and action-oriented tips that teach the basic principles of grief and healing. These ideas and activities are aimed at reducing the confusion, anxiety, and huge personal void so that the living can begin their lives again. Included in the books for teens and kids are age-appropriate activities that teach younger people that their thoughts are not only

normal but necessary.

Author Biography: Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D., is an internationally known teacher, grief counselor, and author of Understanding Grief, Creating Meaningful Funeral Ceremonies, and The Journey Through Grief. He is director of the Center for Loss and Life Transition and faculty member at the University of Colorado Medical School's department of family medicine. He is the "Children and Grief" columnist for Bereavement magazine and has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, and NBC's The Today Show. He lives in Fort Collins, Colorado.

FROM THE CRITICS

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. Further Reading. VOYA CODES: 4Q 3P M J S (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Will appeal with pushing; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2001, Companion Press/Center for Loss and Life Transition, 128p, $11.95. Ages 12 to 18. Reviewer: Diane Masla SOURCE: VOYA, August 2001 (Vol. 24, No. 3)

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