Books for adults and children about dying, death, bereavement and grief
I became aware that schools often ignore the needs of bereaved teenagers, especially around exam time, while teaching drama and English at secondary level. Soon afterwards I completed an MA and my dissertation found that no exam syllabus - not even biology - included death as a teaching topic (Dea
th education for adolescents: an education for life?). I subsequently taught counselling theory and skills, and also counselled bereaved adults as a Cruse volunteer. Later my PhD research recorded some of the ways bereaved youngsters remember and communicate with their dead loved ones (Bereavement and moral and spiritual development: an exploration of the experiences of children and young people). This work made me even more aware of the range of books and other literature steadily becoming available to professionals, family members, children and the wider reading public
I moved to Manchester in 1997 to work as a researcher in child psychiatry using identical animal puppets to interview children. I became a member of Bereavement Research Forum (BRF) and later joined its steering committee. I established Thanatos Books in 2000 and began selling books at a number of conferences including BRF, Sea of Faith, and Manchester Area Bereavement Forum. Nowadays, Thanatos Books sells to many groups nationwide, either by mail order or through bookstalls at conferences.
