“The Purple Balloon” by Chris Raschka

Talking about dying is hard.

Dying is harder.

But there are many people who can help.

–from “The Purple Balloon”

Created in conjunction with Children’s Hospice International, “The Purple Balloon” by Chris Raschka offers a way for parents, families, friends and hospital workers to explain death to a child.

This simple children’s book is based on a fascinating anecdote shared at the beginning of the book:

“When a child becomes aware of his or her pending death and is given the opportunity to ‘draw your feelings,’ he or she will often draw a blue or purple balloon, released and floating free. Health care professionals have discovered that this is true regardless of a child’s cultural or religious background, and researchers believe that it demonstrates the child’s innate knowledge that a part of him or her will live forever.”

Illustrated by Raschka with simple watercolor balloon characters, “The Purple Balloon” encourages kids to be there for terminally-ill friends and classmates and to seek help and companionship from loved ones if they are ill. The brief text shares the basic message that there is no “right” way to grieve or to approach the end of life. Yet it makes clear that pain is always a little easier to bear if we reach out for help from friends and loved ones.

Credit: healthline.com

The book closes with a short list for kids, “What you can do to help” when a friend is sick or in the hospital.

“The Purple Balloon” addresses an important need — a way to open conversations about death with grieving or dying children. While these conversations are never easy, books like this make the subject of death approachable, even with very young kids.