How to Help Children Through a Parent's Serious Illness » (REV)

Kathleen McCue, M.A., C.C.L.S., is supervisor of the child life program at the prestigious Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and past president of the National Child Life Council, her profession's international association. She lives in Cleveland, Ohio.

Ron Bonn has won three Emmy awards for his work as a TV news producer and writer. He lives in Closter, New Jersey.

Offering supportive, practical advice from a leading child-life specialist, this book includes information such as what to tell a child about the illness, how to recognize early-warning signs in a child's drawings, sleep patterns, schoolwork and eating habits, and when and where to get professional help. Illustrations & Calvin & Hobbes cartoons.

Library Journal

Supervisor of the child life program at Cleveland Clinic Foundation, McCue asserts that children are flexible, understanding, and deeply committed to helping even very sick parents. However, they need to know what's going on. Openness and honesty should be primary, argues McCue, not protective white lies. She offers strategies to prevent a sense of failure in children and to help them prepare for a very different future than they may have been led to expect. She also covers how to let helpful neighbors and relatives really help and gives advice on professional assistance. Given this breadth of topics, McCue's book can be read in its entirety or selectively. An extremely helpful book; highly recommended.-Linda Beck, Indian Valley P.L., Telford, Pa.