Bibliotherapy is an educational approach that attempts to engage learners in meaningful discussions about relevant, compelling, and complex issues that they confront in their lives. Bibliotherapy begins with reading and reflecting on stories that can draw participants into a process of reflection, in ways that are user friendly and…

Resilience, or the process of adjusting well to adversity, draws on personal and social ecological resources (i.e., caregiving and community supports). Previous research--conducted mostly in the Global North--has shown that bibliotherapy offers a way to support children in identifying and utilizing resilience-enabling resources. In so doing,…

To enhance a child's ability to cope after the loss of a loved one, parents and caregivers may use children's books as one of a variety of available strategies. When using this familiar form of bibliotherapy with preschoolers, it is important to choose books that are developmentally appropriate for the child and the situation at hand. In this…

The death of a loved one has serious implications for adolescent growth and development. The authors review relevant research on the grief process and spirituality in adolescence, and they give a rationale for integrating spirituality into adolescent grief work. By way of a case illustration, they draw implications for counselors' use of…

This article provides information on adolescent developmental issues and developmentally appropriate interventions that can help mental health practitioners work with adolescents grieving a death loss. Specific areas that are initially covered include core adolescent developmental issues that must be understood, including adolescent developmental…

Purportedly fear of the unknown, death anxiety, and insomnia are prevalent problems among some gifted individuals. The present study tested this assertion and examined the relationship of these variables to Dabrowski's (1967) overexcitabilities. The study involved 73 gifted and 143 typical middle and high school adolescents who were given a death…

Previous research has attested to the power of metaphor-rich stories to enable resilience during individual therapy, but this has not been researched in a group context. We aimed to ascertain if the reading of brief stories in a group setting, with no other therapeutic intervention, would prove to be a valuable, inexpensive and accessible…

Death, illness, divorce, abuse--any degree of loss is unpleasant to discuss, unpleasant to think about. Yet, no one is exempt from the misfortunes that accompany life's journey. This includes gifted children, who at times may be perceived as self-sufficient and smart enough to figure out their own problems even if they are overwhelmingly upset…

Bibliotherapy can help children prepare for and understand the death of a loved one. An annotated bibliography lists references with age level information on attitudes toward death and deaths of a father, friend, grandparent, mother, pet, and sibling. (Author/CL)

Outlines the use of poetry in a grief-training session for medical professionals in which poetry is used to sensitize and draw forth feelings participants might encounter in the medical field when dealing with the death of children. (SR)

Presents the concept of bibliotherapy and discusses the value of books--particularly modern fiction and poetry--for helping individuals to cope with death and other personal crises. Several specific titles are recommended for adults. (MES)

Are teachers aware of the stress in their classrooms? Do teachers plan for stress control? Educators need to understand why stress is a part of classroom life and how it affects the teacher-student relationship. Bibliotherapy can be an intervention in stress management through books. The use of appropriate reading material to help solve emotional…

This annotated bibliography was prepared for the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) Clearinghouse on Early Childhood Education as a resource for teachers to use in helping young children cope with death and separation. It includes (1) a selected list of children's books which treat death, (2) a selected list of children's books which…

Describes a study examining whether 4- and 5-year-old children, after participating in a bibliotherapy and parent-child program of reading and discussion in 14 short sessions, acquired a significantly more "complete" understanding of death. Finds no statistically significant differences following this intervention, and discusses possible reasons…

This article discusses students with terminal illnesses and the challenges teachers face in dealing with the issue of death. Classroom strategies for dealing with death are described and include using children's literature that explores death, using deaths of pets as teachable moments, and using children's films. (Contains references.) (CR)