Books for Children and Parents Coping with a Cancer Diagnosis:

What books are available to help me talk with my children:
Books that explain to children and teens what is happening
These books are read by the parent to the child. An older child can read it alone. They encourage questions and discussion.


• Our Family Has Cancer Too! By Christine Clifford.
This is a short book with pictures that describes a family's experience with cancer and how they coped. It has comments throughout the story that help start conversations with children. Appropriate for ages 3 to 16.

• Can I Still Kiss You? Answering Your Children's Questions About Cancer By Neil Russell
An easy book for parents or older children to read. It is in question and answer style allowing readers to answer some of the questions for themselves. Age appropriate for preteens and above.

• What About Me? A Booklet for Teenage Children of Cancer Patients by Linda Leopold Strauss
Published by Cancer Family Care, 7182 Reading Road, Suite 1201, Cincinnati, Ohio 45237, this booklet can be ordered by calling 513-731-3346.

• The Hope Tree: Kids Talk About Breast Cancer By Laura Joffe Numeroff. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, New York. 2001
Noted children's book illustrator, David McPhail, has infused Hope Tree with lots of kid appeal through his trademark cute and comical animals. This book is organized as the support group scrapbook for school-aged children of moms with breast cancer. A wide range of names and ages, as well as animal narrators will enable all children to identify with the content. Each double-paged spread focuses on one concern, such as "the day my family found out" or "you can't catch it." In addition to outlining what to expect, each vignette suggests a course of action that will help the child gain a sense of control and hope. Superb.

• Both Sides Now By Ruth Pennebaker. Henry Holt & Co., New York. 2000. Fifteen-year-old Lisa finds that her illusion of control over her life is shattered by her mother's breast cancer. Told in two voices, that of Lisa and her mother, this story is dramatic and very real. Highly recommended for teens.

• Cancer By Oliver Gillie; Heinemann Library, Chicago, Il. 2004. This title is succinct, informative, and upbeat nonfiction which encompasses all types of cancer, history, diagnosis, causes, treatment, emotions, research, and personal stories. A bright, colorful layout, web resources, further reading, and a glossary make this book a good choice for a child who wants, “Just the facts.”


Storybooks
These books tell stories of a child's experience with their parent having cancer. Each book has the child talking about their feelings, questions, and fears.
• Becky and the Worry Cup By Wendy Schlessel Harpham, M.D.
Becky is five but she has a lot of feelings and questions as she deals with her mother's cancer. One way that Becky deals with her fears is with a worry cup. This book comes with When a Parent has Cancer, A guide to Caring for Your Children. Appropriate for ages 4-15.

• The Year My Mother Was Bald By Ann Speltz and Kate Sternberg. Published by American Psychological Association, 2002; Ages 9-12

• Vanishing Cookies: Doing Ok When a Parent Has Cancer By Michelle B. Goodman, Published by Michelle B. Goodman,1991

• Kemo Shark By Kidscope, Inc. (www.kidscope.org)
A cartoon illustrated book, featuring "Kemo" the shark who explains how chemotherapy works to fight cancer. Also available in Spanish. Appropriate for ages 3 to 12.

• Kids Talk, Kids Speak Out About Breast Cancer By Laura Numeroff and Wendy S. Harpham, M.D. This book is illustrated showing children as animal people. The children explain what it is like for them when their mother has breast cancer. Appropriate for ages 3 to 10.

• My Mommy Has Cancer By Carolyn Sterns Parkinson
A story about Eric whose mother has cancer and is in the hospital. He talks about his feelings and thoughts. Appropriate for young children.

• Once Upon a Hopeful Night By Risa S. Yaffe (oncology Nursing Press)
A bed-time tale in rhyme about a mother who has cancer. The story includes many of the feelings and thoughts children have when their parent has cancer. Appropriate for ages 3 to 10.

• The Paper Chain By Claire Blake, et. al.
Ben and Marcus learn their mother has to go to the hospital and has cancer. The story deals with their anger and behavior during their mothers’ treatment and tiredness. Appropriate ages 4-10.

• Sammy's Mommy Has Cancer By Sherry Kohlenberg
Sammy's tells the story of his mother’s cancer. This book is appropriate for very young children.

• Tickles Tabitha's Cancer-Tankerous Mommy By Amelia Frahm
Tabitha loves having her mother tickle her. Her mother gets sick with cancer and Tabitha tells about all the changes and feelings everyone in the family goes through. Appropriate ages 4-12.

• When Mommy is Sick By Ferne Sherkin-Longen
Charlotte tells of her feelings and thoughts when her mother goes to the hospital for a few days because she is sick. Appropriate for young children.

• Promises By Elizabeth Winthrop; Clarion Books, New York, 2000. Told in the first person by a six-year-old girl whose mom has cancer, this book does an excellent job of integrating the typical events that occur after diagnosis with the child's emotional reactions. Illustrated by Caldecott Honor book artist Betsy Lewin, it warmly shows the angry, sad, fearful, and happy narrator with her bald mom and loving dad. Perfect for very young children.

• Where's Mom's Hair? A Family Journey through Cancer By Debbie Watters. Second Story Press, Toronto. 2005. Two elementary aged boys react to finding out that their mother is losing her hair by throwing a hair cutting party. Very warm, upbeat, and permission giving about experiencing a range of feelings. Black and white photographs tell the story of baldness and chemo with reality.


Workbooks and coloring books
Young children can draw in these books. They can write about their feelings and express how they see the world around them.

• Life Isn't Always a Day at the Beach By Ganz High Five Publishing
A cartoon illustrated workbook for children to both draw and write how they are feeling about how their life is affected by cancer. Appropriate for ages 4 to 13.

• My Book About Cancer By Rebecca C. Schmidt
A coloring book for young children to draw pictures about their experiences when their mother is diagnosed and treated for cancer. Appropriate for ages 3 to 8.

• When Someone Has a Very Serious Illness By Marge Heegaard
A workbook for children to draw pictures and be more detailed about their experiences when someone in their family is sick. Appropriate for ages 4 to 13.

Young Adult Books
At The End of Words By Miriam Stone. Candlewick, Cambridge, MA. 2003. A brutally frank tale from a high school senior as her mother declines and dies from metastatic breast cancer. Beautifully written poetry, prose and letters are structured into a seasonal and monthly chronicle of denial, loss, and healing. Gives insight into the impact of mom's illness and death, as well as hope, to older teens or their parents.

Loose Threads By Lorie Ann Grover. Margaret K. McElderry Books, New York. 2002. An unusual household: great grandmother, grandmother, mother, and the author, who writes in free verse of her grandmother's diagnosis, treatment, decline, and death. Her seventh grade voice gives a window into her powerful emotions, alternating with normal middle school age life. Provides insight to parents and a sense of "I am not alone" to children.

Help for the Hard Times: Getting Through Loss by Earl Hipp; Center City, Minnesota: Hazelden, 1995. A self-help book for teenagers that explains loss and offers help for getting through grief and hard times. Ages 12 and up.

Lost and Found: A Kid's Book for Living Through Loss by Marc Gellman and Monsignor Thomas Hartman New York: Morrow Junior Books, 1999. The authors explain how loss, of all sorts, can be an opportunity for new wisdom. Ages 8 and up.

35 Ways to Help a Grieving Child The Dougy Center, Item #546, Phone: 503-775-5683. A simple and practical guidebook that covers such topics as how to include children in decision making, what to expect from different ages of grieving children, and how to provide safe outlets for children to express emotion.

For Parents:
When a Parent Has Cancer: A Guide to Caring for Your Children by Wendy Harpham, MD. HarperCollins, 1997

We Can Cope: Helping Parents Help Children when a Parent Has Cancer by J. Bromberg, PsyD, C. McCabe. Innovative Training Systems, 2000

Raising an emotionally healthy child when a parent is sick by Paula Rauch and Anna Muriel Part of the Harvard Medical School Health Book Series Publisher: McGraw-Hill, 2005

Cancer in the Family, Helping Children Cope with a Parent's Illness
By Sue P. Heiney, et. al.This book from the American Cancer Society is written in a text book style. It has specific information about children's development and provides many helpful strategies.

How to Help Children Through a Parent's Serious Illness
By Kathleen McCue. This book is written by a social worker and talks in broader terms of serious illness. It uses specific information and a touch of humor. There are nine chapters and 200 pages.