Both adults and elementary age children are focusing on loss and death in our classes. Rather than write more about it, I wanted to put together a resource list for you. Some of these are in our library and are being used during our classes.

Beliefs and Practices 

•  Laine Bergeson, “Good Life, Good Death,” Utne Reader, September/October 2005.
• “Love and Death,” a sermon preached by the Reverend Forrest Church (1948-2009).
• Anjula Rasdan, “Kickin’ It,” interview with Six Feet Under’s Alan Ball on grief and dying, American Style, Utne Reader, September/October 2005.
• Six Feet Under, HBO dramatic comedy series created and produced by Alan Ball. It features a California family who owns and operates a funeral home. Many public libraries have the DVDs.
• “Being Mortal,” Frontline, PBS, February 10, 2015. This video documentary explores the intersection of life, death, medicine, and what matters in the end. This may be viewed free online.
  Love and Death: My Journey through the Valley of the Shadow was the last book written by Unitarian Universalist minister Forrest Church (Beacon, 2009).

Beliefs about Life and Death

• Beliefs about Life and Death in Unitarian Universalism, at UUA.org.
• Rachel Nuwer, “The Seven Ways to Have a Near-Death Experience,” BBC News, March 3, 2015.
• An Outline of Different Cultural Beliefs at Time of Death, a booklet published by Loddon Mallee Regional Palliative Care Consortium in Australia.
• Carnegie Mellon University has made Randy Pausch’s last lecture, Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams (1:16:26), available online. It was delivered at the university on September 18, 2007.
• Reading Our Lives, a reflection by Marshall Hawkins, UU World, September 2007.

Grief

• https://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/adults/facing-death/workshop-4-bereavement/handout-2-ways-cope-grief
• Bruce Bower, “Bereaved Relatives Helped by Chance to View Body after Sudden Loss,” Science News, US News and World Report, May 11, 2010.
• “Coping with Grief When a Loved One Dies,” National Institutes of Health News in Health, November 2009.
• Cari Romm, “Understanding How Grief Weakens the Body” The Atlantic, September 11, 2014.
• Gideon Lichfield, “The Science of Near-Death Experiences” The Atlantic, April 2015.
  Understanding Cultural Issues in Death, Griefspeaks.com.
  Understanding Grief within a Cultural Context, Cancer.net.
  Grief and Loss page of PBS’s This Emotional Life.
  bereavement resources from the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
  Read Mark Belletini, Nothing Gold Can Stay: The Colors of Grief (Skinner, 2015).

End of Life Conversations

• Download the Conversation Starter Kit from the Conversation Project for help in talking with loved ones about end-of-life issues.
• Watch “Being Mortal,” Frontline, PBS. In the video, surgeon Atul Gawande examines the relationships doctors have with patients nearing the end of life.
• Read Atul Gawande, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End (Metropolitan Books, 2014), which argues for a revisioning of end-of-life conversations and decisions.

Death & Grief (Children’s Books)

Talking About Death: A Dialogue Between Parent and Child by Earl A. Grollman

Barron, T.A.; Where is Grandpa?

Buscaglia, Leo; The Fall of Freddie the Leaf

Cooke, Trish; The Grandad Tree

dePaola, Tomie; Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs

Hansen, Warren; The Next Place

Karst, Patrice; The Invisible String

Mellonie, Bryan; Lifetimes: The Beautiful Way to Explain Death to Children

Mundy, Michaelene; Sad isn’t Bad

Plourde, Lynn; Thank You, Grandpa

Ringtved, Glenn; Cry, Heart, but Never Break

Rowland, Joanna; The Memory Box

Sanford, Doris; It Must Hurt A Lot

Teckentrup, Britta; The Memory Tree

Thomas, Pat; I Miss You

Varley, Susan; Badger’s Parting Gifts

Viorst, Judith; The Tenth Good Thing About Barney

See you on Sunday!
Carrie Krause, DLFD