When a child suffers loss due to death,divorce or other circumstance, his well being depends greatly on the adults around him. Sometimes these adults suffered themselves the same loss and are overwhelmed with grief.Other times the caring adults are just unsure what is the best way to proceed, how to talk to the child about the loss,what kind of behaviors to encourage and when behaviors are thought to be outside the normal range.If you are a parent,a friend or care taker that is faced with these dilemmas, this book was written for you.

Tamat Granot, a leading authority on issues of loss and bereavement,wrote a clear, comprehensive and compassionate book that holds you by the hand and walks you through the mind of a grieving child from the time he learns of his loss through the years of growing up. She illustrates and explains how the child deals with his loss as he goes through different developmental stages. Those of you who suffered a loss as children will recognize yourself in the book and will find it comforting and inspiring to better understand what happened then, and how the loss colored and maybe still colors your life.

Without you is unique in the category of psychology books since it gives you not only very thourough explanations to understand the processes in the context of age and development but also provides a solid clear advice how to support the child so he feels safe to express his grief and other related emotions ,thoughts, and questions.Highly Recommanded.

Nina Berman, LCSW, Irvine Ca.

In professional psychological literature, many books seem to be written primarily to advance the career of the author and only secondarily to share useful information with the reader. It is a very rare book where you, the reader, get the sense that the author has a career's worth of experience they wish to share with you for no other reason than because it's important, hard won information.

Without You, depth experience. It is concrete yet sophisticated; practical but nuanced. Granot describes the effect of loss - from sudden, tragic death to divorce - on children at all developmental levels. She looks not only at what loss means to children when it occurs at a particular age, but also how the effects of that loss will manifest at later developmental stages.

Granot disabuses the wishful thinking of parents and other well meaning adults who like to believe the "child doesn't understand" or "seems to be over it" with the painful emotional reality beneath the child's business-as-usual coping style. The book gives the reader -- professional as well as layperson -- an opportunity to get under the exterior of children and understand what loss really does to them.

Granot's message is as merciless as death: loss affects everyone, including children, irrevocably. To pretend otherwise is a disservice to the young ones we love and care for. I believe this book is an important resource for any helping professional working with any child who has suffered loss, or any adult who suffered loss as a child - which means just about everyone. It is a welcome addition to my reference shelf.

Josh Gressel, Ph.D., psychologist