Read YA/books for kids

Recommended by Elena

in response to Kat (they/them)

My beloved dad died less than three weeks ago. 10 days later, my mom’s dog also passed away far too young. Life just feels trashy and hard right now, and I miss my dad so much. How do you get through times like these? I’m not afraid of the grief and am feeling it daily, but it’s also feeling hard to do the other life stuff like wife, work, parent.

Kids picture books and young adult books are so tender and wise, filled with beautiful stories of friendship, courage, resilience, wonder, whimsy, humor and joy. They don’t shy away from the hard stuff either but I find them to be such a balm in times where my heart feels unbearably squeezed.

If reading sounds like too much these often have great audiobooks too. Sending a hug to you.

Some authors that I lean on:

Frances Hardinge, Tamora Pierce, Patricia McKillip, Catherynne M. Valente, Diana Wynne Jones, Franny Billingsley, Barbara Helen Berger, Barbara Cooney + the book in the image…there are so many!

15 hours ago