"Grandma, I don't like to talk about this very often but I don't want you to die," young Duncan blurts out one day while riding in the car. And, rather than dismiss her grandson's comment or try to gloss over its seriousness, Grandma engages with Duncan's concern.
What ensues is a beautiful conversation about the human soul, death, heaven, and guardian angels that will bring light and comfort to a hard topic-for adults, as well as children. Inspired by a conversation with her own grandson, author Rev. Karen E. Herrick, PhD, simplifies these complex notions into vivid examples that will engage children's imaginations.
A great book to introduce young kids to the concept of death, What's a Soul Grandma? will help calm their fears of losing loved ones, by describing how those who go before them serve as guardian angels watching over them; and, even more importantly, how the lasting power of love connects people from this life to the next.
Both kids and adults will find comfort and joy in what Grandma has to say to Duncan about the afterlife.
About the Author: Rev. Karen E. Herrick, PhD, is the director of the Center for Children of Alcoholics Inc. in Red Bank, New Jersey. She holds an MSW from Rutgers University and a PhD from Union Institute & University in Cincinnati, Ohio. Over the past thirty years, she has developed a successful private practice helping people with all types of psychological problems, including addictions, and has lectured throughout the United States on dysfunctional and addictive homes, dissociation, and grief and loss from a Jungian perspective.
Ordained at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Rev. Herrick is the Academy for Spiritual and Consciousness Studies' first female president in thirty-seven years. A mother of three daughters, and grandmother of eight, she is passionate about helping people of all ages better understand their unique spiritual experiences and develop healthy ways to handle their grief over the loss of loved ones.
