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Samantha Jane hasn't been smiling much lately.
She lost her smile about a month ago.
That was when her dad died.
Samantha Jane misses her father very much. Sometimes the sadness feels so big she is afraid to let herself feel it. Sammy Jane is also worried about her mother, and whether they are all going to be happy again someday. But then she feels guilty. Is it right to feel happy when her father can't be here to enjoy life, too?
Losing a parent is a profoundly life-changing event for a child. Samantha Jane's Missing Smile gently guides families through the feelings, thoughts, and wishes that children experience when a parent dies, and offers helpful tools for lasting hope and happiness.
About the Authors
Julie B. Kaplow, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist with expertise in the psychological consequences of childhood trauma and loss. She has served on the Traumatic Grief Task Force of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and she is the Principal Investigator of an NIMH study examining mental health outcomes in children who have lost a parent. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her family.
Donna Pincus, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and an Associate Professor at Boston University. She is also the Director of the Child and Adolescent Fear and Anxiety Treatment Program at the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders at Boston University and is editor and creator of the Child Anxiety Network, a website dedicated to providing information about child anxiety and its treatments. She lives in Newton, Massachusetts, with her family.
About the Illustrator
Beth Spiegel is an illustrator, a painter, and a picture editor, with a focus on documentary films. She has worked with PBS, ABC, National Geographic, and Vulcan Films, and she directed an animation short that won several international awards. She lives in Altadena, California.
Reviews & Awards
iParenting Media Award Winner!
The loss of a parent is a significantly life-changing event for a child. This compassionately written book helps families cope with this loss. It guides families through the exploration of children's feelings, thoughts, emotions, and desires and offers helpful tools to move toward lasting healing, hope, and optimism for the future.
—Parent and Preschooler Newsletter
Deftly co-authored by Julie Kaplow and Donna Pincus, and very nicely illustrated with the artwork of Beth Spiegel, Samantha Jane's Missing Smile: A Story About Coping With The Loss Of A Parent will gently guide young readers and their families through the feelings, thoughts, and wishes that young children aged 4 to 8 experience when a parent dies and provides them with helpful tools for overcoming their natural and inevitable grief associated with such loss. Simply put, Samantha Jane's Missing Smile should be a part of every elementary school and community library collection because every school and every community will, from time to time, have children who have lost a parent and stand in need of what Sammy Jane has to share with them.
—The Midwest Book Review
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