Books about death and dying

[Samhain]

Arguably one of the main reason people turn to religion is for some comfort and belief about what happens when they or a loved one dies, I have been inspired to do a book thread. if you know of a good book (it doesn't need to be religious) about death or dying please comtribute it here.
can I request that we save this thread as a book thread, if you would like to discuss death or dying this is a very good thread
http://www.hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=167216
or you could start another one.

the pagan book of living and dying by starhawk
this is something of a bible to me, a collection of essays about peoples beliefs and their experinces with death. I really like it because it doesn't sugar coat death, it is a frank and honest book, dealing with subjects from, child deaths, violent death aboration and death from HIV amoung many and how people have dealt and coped with it. also a collection of exercises people can try and mediation and chants- I just love it!

now in the back of the book there are recommendations for bookd which would be good for kids these are

Cats eyes by anthony taber (age 2 up)
the life and death of a cat neamed Tiger

the witch who lost her shadow by mary calhoun (age 2+)
a witch has to deal with her cat going missing

The tenth good thing about barney by judith Viorst (age 3+)
the tenth good thing about barney the cat is he is in the ground and helps push flowers up!

Annie and the old one By Miska Miles (age 5+)
A navajo girl links in her mind a rug she is weaving and her grandmothers death

I had a friend nemaed Peter: Talking to children about the death of a friend (ages 5 to 8)

To hell with dying by Alice Walker (ages 7 and up)

Bridge to Terabithia (for ages 10+)
A ten year old boy deals with the death of his friend

Starhawk also recommends these two novels

The little prince by Antoine de saint-exupery, translated by katherine Woods (age 7+)

the secret garden by francis Hodgson Burnett (ages 9+)
deals with fears about dying

blessings
S

[warmhandedcanadian]

http://embracedbythelight.com/index.htm

Betty's book changed my entire perception of death, dying, and religion.

[greenfrog]

Badger's parting gifts-is a book I have often used with children. Badger gives all his friends gifts before he dies! Can't remember the Author tho!


And Grandpa-which I think maybe by Raymond Briggs-a lovely cartoon book where Grandpa ends up dead in his armchair after playing with his grandson.

[nimh]

The only book about death and dying on my bookshelf is ::Final Gifts:: and i havent even thumbed thru it yet.

i read bridge to tarabithia when i was a kid though.

[Samhain]

i read bridge to tarabithia when i was a kid though.
can you remember what you thought about it?
S

[nimh]

can you remember what you thought about it?
Snot really in detail, just impressions. i liked it though, and i think i cried.

[Samhain]

Has anyone read this book about a yound child who dies and goes to heaven?
she watches over her family from heaven, while their lifes fall apart, helpless to their plight.

S

[Samhain]

heres a review

When we first meet Susie Salmon, she is already in heaven. As she looks down from this strange new place, she tells us, in the fresh and spirited voice of a fourteen-year-old girl, a tale that is both haunting and full of hope.

In the weeks following her death, Susie watches life on Earth continuing without her-her school friends trading rumors about her disappearance, her family holding out hope that she'll be found, her killer trying to cover his tracks. As months pass without leads, Susie sees her parents' marriage being contorted by loss, her sister hardening herself in an effort to stay strong, and her little brother trying to grasp the meaning of the word gone.

And she explores the place called heaven. It looks a lot like her school playground, with the good kind of swing sets. There are counselors to help newcomers adjust and friends to room with. Everything she ever wanted appears as soon as she thinks of it-except the thing she most wants: to be back with the people she loved on Earth.

With compassion, longing, and a growing understanding, Susie sees her loved ones pass through grief and begin to mend. Her father embarks on a risky quest to ensnare her killer. Her sister undertakes a feat of remarkable daring. And the boy Susie cared for moves on, only to find himself at the center of a miraculous event.

The Lovely Bones is luminous and astonishing, a novel that builds out of grief the most hopeful of stories. In the hands of a brilliant new writer, this story of the worst thing a family can face is transformed into a suspenseful and even funny novel about love, memory, joy, heaven, and healing.

[hippychickmommy]

Well after much consideration, I decided that I would post a review of the book I finished not long ago in this thread. At first I wasn't sure if it would truly fit in the death category, the more I thought about it, there was a lot of dealings with death within the book. So here it goes.

The book I recently finished was by Starhawk, and the name of the book was "The Fifth Sacred Thing".

"Imagine a garden city where no one hungers or thirsts, where families are multi-generational, multi-racial mixes of relatives, lovers and friends, where cross-dressers play a ritual divining role, community policies are set by consensus, and healing is always free. Starhawk's first novel, The Fifth Sacred Thing, is set in San Francisco, eighty years since the Summer of Love, after an Uprising has replaced the blacktop streets with flowing streams. There are no cars. Bright-colored gondolas ferry people between the hills. People love without regard to gender - some gay, some hetero, most bi -- but none of these labels apply, none are used to divide folk.

Paradise is threatened from the south; LA of course. The religious right has taken state power and sent a virus north that kills faster than AIDS. Even worse, as the book opens an army is massing to advance on San Francisco. Much of the land in between the two cities is toxic with nuclear waste and crippled mutant life forms. Speaking Spanish, regarded as the witch's tongue, is forbidden down south, abortion outlawed, white women and people of color confined to menial jobs if they can find work at all. With same-sex love driven underground it is clear how race hatred and woman hatred foster homo-hatred, how they must be dismantled first, as the base from which violence stems.

If you can imagine lovers worth defending with your life, if you wonder how we'll ever melt the hatred, fear and ignorance of the Right, if you believe that "the earth is a living conscious being," that "air, fire, water and earth are sacred," that "only in freedom can that fifth sacred thing we call spirit flourish," then read this fierce, gentle book. "

Beautiful description courtesy of Loraine Hutchins...


This book was a bit on the longer side, and at times I must confess I felt that it lulled in some parts, however, I honestly loved the book.

I am currently reading Starhawk's "The Spiral Dance" and I absolutely love it so far. I've been near tears reading it because I share so much of the same feeling about the Earth and about a religion centered around the Goddess. Absolutely beautiful so far, thankyou Samhain for introducing the book to me. :)

[Samhain]

thanks for the review hippychick, I would recommend starhawk to anyone
S