Children Who Lived

Harry Potter’s encounters with grief, as well as the grief experiences of other fictional characters, can be used by educators, counselors, and parents to help children and adolescents deal with their own loss issues. The Children Who Lived is a unique approach toward grief and loss in children. Focusing on fictional child and adolescent characters experiencing grief, this book uses classic tales and the Harry Potter books to help grieving children and adolescents. Included in the text and the downloadable resources are a number of activities, discussion questions, and games that could be used with grieving children and adolescents, based on the fictional characters in these books.

"This is an unusual book that usefully occupies a gap in the current literature on therapy with grieving children and teenagers. Loaded with thought-provoking material for direct use with clients. This book offers rich material and I would recommend it both to clinics and for personal use.The illustrations are charming and the suggestions for engaging with growing children are clearly and sympathetically presented." -Jean Harris Hendriks, honorary consultant psychiatrist and senior lecturer, Traumatic Stress Clinic, in Bereavement Care"As siblings, the authors Kathryn Markell and Marc Markell experienced the loss of their father at a young age. This profound event shaped their lives the,n as well as their adult lives. At young ages, they were able to find guidance and consolation in books. The books they read involved characters that had suffered losses and found healing; they were "the children who lived." The authors found power in literature to guide them through their own grief and on to healing. It was the occurence of their loss and road through children's literature and novels, which led these authors to develop an interest in helping children and adolescents through their work as a psychologist and educator. These elements laid the foundation for The Children Who Lived...It is always inspiring and encouraging to discover new and creative ways to approach the healing process, especially when dealing with grief and loss. This book opens new avenues for counselors and therapists to consider...[the] book provides creative and expressive approaches for dealing with children and adolescents who have suffered death and loss." - Elsa Soto Leggett, The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families

Kathryn A. Markell is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Chair of the Department of Psychology at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, WI. She teaches child and adolescent psychology courses, and teaches death and dying issues across the life-span. Marc A. Markell is a Professor of Special Education at St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, MN. He is a certified thanatologist. He gives presentations on death and dying issues to students, parents, teachers, and foster parents across the state of Minnesota. He has recently published a book on grief rituals for people with developmental disabilities.