Our first book review!

“D is for Death, a Jolliffe Kean Family project, is an alphabet colouring book exploring words associated with death to promote healing and encourage open conversation with children who may not understand words like autopsy and cenotaph. It is not just children – you should have your own pencil crayons at the ready; your fingers will be itching to get at it.

Twenty different artists provided illustrations, including children. My favourite, O for obituary by Kisa MacIsaac, is reminiscent of henna art. Adults will learn as they go through the pages; did you know a xylographer is a carver of wooden coffins?

The book deals with human and animal death and touches on words associated with death in various religions such as Kaddish (Judaism), Last Rites (Catholicism) and Waheguru (Sikhism).

It also features several pages to list the dates and times of various celebrations and visitors, like a baby book for end of life.

It is worth picking up several copies to have on hand the next time you experience a death in the family to help children be engaged at a time when adults may be overwhelmed with grief and funeral details.”

Published by D is for Death: An Alphabet Colouring Book

We use specific words to talk about death that are often hard to understand, especially for children. Emotion, uncertainty and pain make talking about death even harder. Death is a lonely time and excluding children can be traumatizing for them. The Jolliffe Kean family created this alphabet colouring book to help you and your loved ones talk more openly about death. We hope that you’ll colour together, learn about death together, and use this book as a place to capture your thoughts and your memories as you grieve or help the children in your life grieve. We’ve left lots of space in this book to draw or write things that come to you as you think about death and those who have died. We’ve even provided space for your visitors to write in the section called About your loved ones. Maybe you’d like to ask them to colour in the letter or write their thoughts on a page they particularly like, as well. From our family to yours, our wish is that this book will start conversations and help you when death comes for someone you love—that it will give you a place to share your feelings and your memories, and to heal. View more posts

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Published by D is for Death: An Alphabet Colouring Book

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