2026 Undergraduate Research Showcase

Grief Representation in Children's Literature

Document Type

Student Presentation

Presentation Date

4-24-2026

Faculty Sponsor

Dr. Cassidy Taladay-Carter

Abstract

One primary function of children’s literature is to effectively communicate possible developmentally challenging topics surrounding complex experiences that children, and those that care for them (e.g., parents, guardians, teachers), may face. This includes loss and grief, which are often dismissed or seen as difficult to communicate about with young children. Accordingly, the current project involved a systematic review of children’s literature in order to better understand how modern children’s books represent communication about grief, and what is missing from these representations of loss consumed by so many children and their caregivers. The systematic review process adhered to strict PRISMA standards and began with search criteria in online databases including: 2015-2025 publication dates, 4-8 age ranges, written in English, and associated keywords e.g. "grief," “dying,” and “death.”. The review was followed by a reflexive thematic analysis to generate themes of the 74 books that met inclusion criteria. Five themes were generated from the data set to answer the guiding research question: long term grief communication and remembrance, interpersonal support, intrapersonal support, limited representation of first perspective chronic illness and/or ability loss, and limited presence of grief definitions and direct grief terminology. Notably, grief was most commonly communicated in limited, constricted, and singular ways with traditional meanings attached to the word, such as the death of a loved one. Implications of this study demonstrate that adults aiming to use communication tools, such as children’s literature, to guide a child through various forms of death and non-death related grief tools will find a gap in the content available. Future studies should explore how non-death grief, such as the grief associated with chronic illness and/or ability loss, can be effectively communicated through children’s literature and translational tools developed to enhance children and caregiver communication about such complex topics.

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