You Are Not Alone: Teens Talk About Life After The Loss Of A Parent

You Are Not Alone: Teens Talk About Life After The Loss Of A Parent

Product Description Words of reassurance and strategies for coping with the loss of a parent, by the director of the nations largest bereavement camp for children. Loss is one of the most isolating experiences there is, and kids who have lost a parent feel especially different than those around them. Comfort Zone Camp was founded as a safe place for grieving children, and now this very special healing experience can reach an even larger audience of children and the people who care for them. Through frank and accessible testimonials, Lynne Hughes and the kids of CZC share the most difficult parts of their losses and offer their own experiences of what helps, what doesnt, what stinks, and ways to stay connected to their loved ones. The CZC team (cond) From School Library Journal Grade 7 UpHughes, the founder of Comfort Zone Camp for grieving kids, believes that sharing experiences about losing a parent begins the healing process. Her purpose in writing the book is to let teens know that they dont have to feel isolatedthere is help available for them. The book opens with the authors story of losing both of her parents by the age of 12 and living with an unloving stepmother. Fourteen chapters lead readers through the process of grieving and dealing with life without a parent. Quotes from former campers are interspersed throughout the book, giving insight into a variety of ways young people have dealt with loss. One teen states: People get that losing a parent is hard, but I dont think they fully understand everything we lose with them. It isnt just a person that is lost, it is a lifetime worth of memories yet to be made. Talking with a counselor, therapist, teacher, coach, or religious leader is suggested, along with keeping a journal. Information about Comfort Zone Camp is appended. This helpful book offers consolation in knowing that others have also experienced immeasurable loss while giving helpful suggestions on how to deal with the pain. Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WI Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Booklist Gr. 9-12. Hughes is the founder of Comfort Zone Camp, a camp for grieving children who have lost parents or siblings. She begins by telling her own unvarnished tale: her parents died before she was a teenager, and the other adults in her life were not nurturing. Noting that healing continues each time she tells her story, she then weaves the stories of more than two dozen teens who have lost parents--including several whose parents died in the attack on the World Trade Center--into chapters about grief, remembrance, loss, what helps, and moving forward. Hughes is not facile or eloquent with words, and the many quotes from the young people at Comfort Zone Camp are couched in simple, often slangy or cliched language. Still, this title may provide a pathway for teens struggling with their own inchoate and often silent grief. GraceAnne DeCandido Copyright American Library Association. All rights reserved