Failing health or terminal illness
Easy Books
Dragon Kite Of The Autumn Moon
Valerie Reddix ;(E) illustrated by Jean and Mou-Sien Tseng. New York : Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, c1991. When his grandfather is sick, Tad-Tin goes out to fly his special dragon kite, so that it can take all their troubles away with it.
Grandfather’s Rock : An Italian Folktale
Joel Strangis (E); illustrated by Ruth Gamper. Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1993. A poor family in Italy finds a way to keep their elderly Grandfather with them instead of sending him to live in a home for old people.
Gus And Grandpa At The Hospital
Claudia Mills (E); pictures by Catherine Stock. New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998. 47 p. Gus must visit the hospital when his beloved Grandpa has a heart attack.
Now One Foot, Now The Other
Tomie de Paola (E). New York : Putnam, c1981. 32 p. When his grandfather suffers a stroke, Bobby teaches him to walk, just as his grandfather had once taught him.
A Pillow for My Mom
Charissa Sgouros, (E) A girl misses her mother, who is sick in the hospital.
The Purple Balloon
Chris Raschka (E). New York : Schwartz & Wade Books, c2007. Easy-to-read text reveals that dying is hard work, for the old and especially the young, and how good it is that so many people help when a person dies, from medical staff to clergy and friends to family members.
Juvenile Fiction
The Christmas Spurs
Bill Wallace, (JF) Nick is changed by his younger brother Jimmy’s slow death from leukemia, but a small private miracle at Christmastime helps him accept Jimmy’s fate and go forward with renewed faith.
Eighty-Eight Steps to September
Jan Marino (JF) A little girl’s happy preschool life changes when she learns her brother, suffering from leukemia, isn’t going to come home from the hospital.
The Golden Bird
Hans Stolp. (JF) Engaged in a losing battle with cancer, ten-year-old Daniel is comforted by many people but finds his greatest solace in the visits of a phoenix-like golden bird and its vision of rebirth and renewal.
The Magic Moth
Virginia Lee, (JF) Mary Ann, age ten, is dying of an incurable heart disease. The story depicts the confusion and sadness her family feels as her death approaches.
Mama’s Going to Buy You a Mocking Bird
Jean Little, (JF) Jeremy discovers his father has cancer and is dying. With the help of an unlikely friend, he discovers his father left him something that will live forever.
With You and Without You
Ann Martin, (JF) A twelve-year-old faces the fact that her father is dying, and then his death, but dealing with the emptiness afterwards is hardest of all.
Juvenile Non-fiction
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes
Eleanor Coerr (J362.7COE) Eleven-year-old Sadako is dying of leukemia. This story portrays Sadako’s hope for eventual health and her final acceptance to death. Story revolves around the Japanese legend that one thousand folded paper cranes will restore health.
There Is A Rainbow Behind Every Dark Cloud
Center for Attitudinal Healing (JUV 155.9 CEN ) Tiburon, Calif. : Celestial Arts, c1978. 96 p.