Copyright © 2026 OyList. All Rights Reserved.
Share
Items17
1
The Boy and the Gorilla (2020)
Published
On the day of his mother's funeral, a boy meets a gorilla who listens and answers the questions he finds hard to ask. The picture book unfolds in dialogue, with room to stop at a question instead of reading straight through. It suits a child who wants plain words for what happens after someone dies.
More about The Boy and the Gorilla2
Ida, Always (2016)
8.0/10on Open Library
Published
Gus learns that Ida, the other polar bear at his zoo, is ill and won't get better. The friends spend time together while they can, and familiar city sounds take on a different meaning for Gus afterward. Read this picture book when the difficult part is knowing a goodbye is coming.
More about Ida, Always3
The tenth good thing about Barney (1971)
8.7/10on Open Library
Published
When Barney the cat dies, his family plans a funeral. The boy's mother asks him to think of ten good things about Barney, and he starts with nine. The picture book gives families a small, concrete point of connection. One favorite memory is plenty to start with.
More about The tenth good thing about Barney4
Sitting Shiva (2022)
Published
After her mother dies, a girl stays upstairs while visitors bring food and share stories. She can hear life carrying on below before she feels ready to go down herself. The picture book shows how one family observes shiva, and a note explains the Jewish mourning tradition.
More about Sitting Shiva5
Something Very Sad Happened: A Toddler's Guide to Understanding Death
Written for two- and three-year-olds, this illustrated guide gives a caregiver simple, direct words for explaining a death. Certain words are marked so an adult can adapt them to the person the child has lost. There is also a note for grown-ups who want to prepare before they read together.
More about Something Very Sad Happened: A Toddler's Guide to Understanding Death6
The Goodbye Book (2015)
10.0/10on Open Library
Published
A little fish misses its companion. With short sentences and bright, simple pictures, the book makes room for a fish that feels angry one moment and too sad to eat another. The reason for the goodbye is left open, which makes this a flexible read-aloud when the feeling matters more than matching the event.
More about The Goodbye Book7
The rough patch (2018)
8.0/10on Open Library
Published
When Evan's dog dies, the fox tears up the garden they used to tend together. An unexpected pumpkin vine gives him something to decide about when he's ready. The changing garden makes the anger and loneliness visible to a child who would rather look at pictures than talk about feelings.
More about The rough patch8
The funeral (2018)
8.0/10on Open Library
Published
Norma goes to her great-uncle Frank's funeral and gets to see her cousin Ray. She looks at family photographs, eats sandwiches, and plays outside after the service. The picture book is especially useful for a child who is curious about what people do at a funeral and whether it's okay to have a good moment there.
More about The funeral9
The Remembering Day / El día de los muertos
Bella and her grandmother, Mamá Alma, have years of memories in their garden. In this bilingual picture book, Pat Mora imagines an origin story for Mexico's Day of the Dead, giving the family a day to remember together. The garden offers a starting point for talking about places and traditions that hold a person's memory.
More about The Remembering Day / El día de los muertos10
One Wave at a Time: A Story About Grief and Healing
After Kai's father dies, feelings arrive like waves. Sometimes fear, anger, and sadness run together, and sometimes everything feels flat. The pictures put those changes on the page, which can be helpful when a child wants to point to a feeling without having to explain it.
More about One Wave at a Time: A Story About Grief and Healing11
Michael Rosen's sad book (2004)
10.0/10on Open Library
Published
Michael Rosen writes about his own sadness after his son Eddie dies. Quentin Blake's drawings let a child see how a grown-up can look cheerful and feel something entirely different. This illustrated book offers a parent’s point of view for readers who are also noticing the grief of the adults around them.
More about Michael Rosen's sad book12
When you trap a tiger (2020)
8.0/10on Open Library
Published
A tiger from Halmoni's Korean stories offers Lily a bargain when her grandmother is ill. Lily wants to save her, and the bargain draws her into stories Halmoni hasn't shared. The novel gives independent readers a family mystery and a little magic alongside the fear of losing a grandparent.
More about When you trap a tiger13
The thing about jellyfish (2015)
9.4/10on Open Library
Published
After her friend drowns, Suzy becomes convinced that a jellyfish sting could explain what happened. She pours herself into research because she wants an answer she can make sense of. This middle-grade novel is a good choice for a reader drawn to a mystery and ready for the uncertainty beneath it.
More about The thing about jellyfish14
The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise (2019)
9.7/10on Open Library
Published
Coyote and her dad live in a converted school bus after losing her mother and two sisters in a car crash. When she hears that a park will be torn up, she wants to get back to the memory box they buried there. The middle-grade road trip has friends and adventure alongside the question of what to do with a place you miss.
More about The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise15
The stars beneath our feet (2017)
6.7/10on Open Library
Published
After his older brother is killed in a shooting, Lolly starts building a LEGO city without instructions. In this middle-grade novel, his time at the community center gives him something to shape when there is so much he can't control. Start here for a story that takes sibling loss seriously and makes space for the pleasure of making things.
More about The stars beneath our feet16
King and the Dragonflies (2020)
10.0/10on Open Library
Published
King believes his late brother Khalid has become a dragonfly. He also remembers Khalid telling him to stop seeing Sandy after hearing that Sandy might be gay. This middle-grade novel gives readers room to think about how someone can miss a brother deeply and still have hard questions about words he left behind.
More about King and the Dragonflies17
A Monster Calls (2011)
9.3/10on Open Library
Published
Conor already has nightmares about his mother's illness when a monster comes to tell him stories and asks for one in return. Jim Kay's black-and-white art makes this illustrated novel the darkest choice here. Patrick Ness developed the book from an idea by Siobhan Dowd. It's for older children ready for a frightening story about the truths Conor is scared to say aloud.
More about A Monster Calls
