Cover Image: When Someone Dies

When Someone Dies

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Member Reviews

When Someone Dies by Andrea Dorn is a kid’s guide to dealing with grief. I liked that the book walked parents through questions to ask the child about how they were feeling. It opens up a dialogue between the child and adult to see how the child is dealing with the death of a loved one and offers basic ways to deal with grief. This book is non religious so if you’re looking for a book that doesn’t have a religious slant, this is the book for you. However, I felt that was a missed opportunity.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book for my honest opinion.

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Uhmm I went into this book thinking this would be a children book, but one that helped with loss, uhmmm its more like a guide book for parents and teachers and children minders, to help explain what death is and how children can cope with death. Uhmm is not the kind of book that you could give to children and let them read alone, because it needs someone directing how things are explored, death is a hard topic, that for sure.

I got a free ARC of this book in NetGalley and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

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When Someone Dies by Andrea Dorn is a great resource and tool to help guide grownups and kids alike through the bereavement process after someone passes away. When Someone Dies is full of different types of bereavement (when someone moves away, etc.) and offers different options on how to help a child go through grief on their level. I loved the amount of practical information that was in the book and how you can adapt what is in the book to what your child is going through. I loved the different charts that explained bereavement and different emotions. I highly recommend this book for anyone who who works with children in any capacity or to someone who believes that it will benefit a child in their life. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read this book. My review is also on Goodreads.

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Normally a tragic and heartbreaking topic parents want to avoid, Dorn turns the discussion of death into a conversation easy for parents or teachers to navigate while having with children. Dorn has taken a challenging subject and made it easily accessible for young minds. It is a simple read with a critically important message that can be very serious and difficult to discuss and understand.

Using the book to help navigate grief is so important for little people who may be experiencing death or dying for the first time. It tells children that it is okay to feel these feelings, and that bad things can happen and it is okay to feel sad about them. It teaches coping skills and allows for parents to ask questions to open a dialogue between what their child might be internalizing.

This story had a light enough tone to tackle a heavy subject, which can be a tricky balance to maintain in a children’s book, and I will be suggesting it to teachers whenever possible. Incorporating difficult to navigate topics such as this into children's picture books is a tried and true way to teach an important life skill in a way that is appropriate for their age level. This would be an amazing addition for classroom libraries, counselling offices and more.

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The author a licensed social worker deals with children suffering from different traumas. In a friendly intentional aspect, she brings with illustration and thoughtfulness how we can face grief. Children need to be able to face the grief with those that care about them. So for me this book is for both parent and child. One of the things I found most healing is that is asks important questions. One on death is it is ok to remember the one that died and to keep those memories alive. There is a healthy way in doing do. It also gives permission not to be on a time table. To go on your pace in recovery.

It also will bring to light the journey. The steps that you might be feeling. Anger, sadness, anxiety, all the emotions that get tied up in knots. How to unravel those knots and thrive.

A special thank you to PESI Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

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this is a great book to introduce grief to children, but it is also helpful to caregivers. the story is delivered interactively with relevant questions to every part of the story. there are also step-by-step approach from acknowledge the feelings until how to cope up with it. and there's note for the caregivers too

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This book is an excellent resource for children who have experienced the death of a friend or family member. The prompts for parents to ask gentle questions and how death is explained is age appropriate and helpful. We have ordered this for our library and I know it will be an asset to many families going through tough situations. I especially appreciated the chart for different emotions included at the end, which had such feelings like numbness that are not often talked about.

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This book is written for children, but as an adult that has gone through the grieving process, there are ideas in the book that can even help us!! There aren’t enough books out there for children about this subject. It is kind of looked at as a taboo subject in our society, but when a child loses someone they love, those feelings have to be displayed in some way and not just in silence. This book will show children how to openly express their feelings and start the healing process.

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"Dying is a normal part of life, but when someone close to me dies, things can happen inside of my body, and around me."

This book is about grief and saying goodbye.
It tells you that your feelings at the time of grief are valid; it gives advice on how to handle your feelings during and after a breakdown.

I know this book is intended for children but it has an element that anyone who reads it can relate to regardless of age; the illustrations in this book give appropriate images to support what the author is conveying.

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I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a great resource to help prepare children for and answer questions about death. There are thoughtful questions and tips for kids and the adults guiding this reading. Illustrations are simple. My favorite was the picture sequence of the child planting a tree and tending to it til it grew big and eventually died. It also defines and answers words and questions such as "what is grief?" Well done!

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When Someone Dies is grief guide for children. It has wonderful illustrations and developmentally appropriate writing. The author is so thorough with mediation tips, caregiver tips and vocabulary list. I will add a copy to my counseling office library. Thanks PESI Publishing and NetGalley for the review copy of this title.

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Thank you NetGalley for this book! I was looking for contemporary children's books and it's great to see books that help kids to process their emotions! It was so loving, I even teared up from time to time. The questions at the end of the pages were great to help engaging the kids. This would be a book I would definitely gift a new parent.

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Thank you to NetGalley, Andrea Dorn, MSW, and PESI Publishing for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

While I have taken courses on Dying, Death, and Bereavement, none of the textbooks that I have used before have been as straightforward and charming as this one. I believe that this is the perfect book for children and adults alike when it comes to teaching not only about death itself but also what comes afterward: grief.

I enjoyed how interactive this book was. I don't have any children myself, but I can perfectly picture each moment that a child would finish reading a section and reflect on the questions that were asked of them. However, while the drawings themselves were very cute and simple, the format was a bit off or out of place at times. But this just may be due to it being an eBook and not a pre-structured physical copy.

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Thank you to NetGalley, author Andrea Dorn, MSW, and PESI Publishing for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book is a beautiful primer on how to teach and explain grief and mourning to children (as well as older people). I loved the artwork and the questions at the bottom of the pages which help promote conversation between a caregiver and tthe person who is being read this story to. I enjoyed all of the resources provided in the book and found this to be a very comprehensive guide.

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My son and I read this book as his grandma passed away last month. I was hoping this could help him cope and be more understanding to the situation. This went above and beyond my expectations! The steps you can utilize when you're having feelings are helpful reminders to him. The mindful meditation is great and works wonders even with situations outside of dealing with a loss. I enjoyed every minute of it and the questions kept him actively engaged the whole time!

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An excellent book to help children deal with grief and to also help anyone else who might be dealing with their own grief. I would say that this book would be great for an adult to read with a preschool age child and older and a great resource for parents and caregivers to help those small ones in their life. I love how the author has provided some open ended questions on each page to guide the person reading the book with a child how to help them more think about the things they are feeling. The definitions and children's understanding of death resource in the back of the book are another excellent part of it to help those that are trying to help children work their way through grief. I think this would be a great book to give any parent or guardian as a gift before there might be any death that happens so that they have the resource ahead of time. I voluntarily reviewed an advanced readers copy of this book.

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As a parent who has two young children and also just lost someone close to them, I highly recommend this book. We were hard pressed to find really good books that helped our children in such a good age appropriate way. This book does that and more, I even found ways in this book to help my own grief. This book is written in such a way that children can openly express their feelings and begin to heal. I would recommend any parent, care giver, teacher, and school counselor to check out this book.

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Thank you NetGalley for a digital copy of this book in exchange of my honest opinion.

When Someone Dies by Andrea Dorn is a book of immense value as it teaches young kids to deal with grief in a healthy way. Mourning loss can be a suffocating experience, more so for children as their still developing brain have a hard time processing the situation and expressing the overwhelming amount of emotions. It explores different types of reactions one might have, focusing on the fact that whatever the feelings are, they are valid and they demand attention. Each page contains interactive questions that might provoke the kid to open up. It also suggests couple of coping techniques and ushers the readers to add whatever works for them. A complete, calming book with proper, effective illustrations. Highly Recommended!

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Thank you Netgalley, Andrea Dorn, and Pesi Publishing for a E-ARC of this book.


I believe this is a good book for helping children with their grief, But should be noted that it geared towards older kids.
As a mother of younger kids i found this book a bit too complicated for them. Most of the idea and tips for this book is hard to do with two toddlers, who don't understand where Grandma went.
You can clearly see it was written by a therapist as its more technical than it is geared towards children.
Will be a great book to share with the older children in the family and hopefully give them a way to understand and cope with what they are and have been feeling.

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This was a very helpful book about helping children process grief. I can tell it was written by a therapist, as it has useful meditations, feelings chart, and mindfulness practices for both the child and their caregiver. It provides a safe space for a child to explore their grief. The illustrations were simple, but useful.

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