The Complete List of Children's Books about Cancer (loved one)

When Sara Olsher was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 34, her first thought was how to tell her six-year-old daughter without scaring her. As it turned out, explaining cancer was only the beginning. Treatment is long and causes a lot of ongoing changes in the family—all of which can be confusing, scary, and isolating for kids.
Join Mia and her stuffed giraffe Stuart as they explain the science of cancer and how a loved one's diagnosis and treatment affects a kid's day-to-day life. What Happens When Someone I Love Has Cancer? uses bright and fun illustrations to show how cells can turn into cancer, and helps reduce confusion about how cancer treatment affects a person and the kids in their lives.
"Most of the time we do the same things in the mornings. We wake up. We eat breakfast. (I like apples. Stuart only eats bugs.) ... when something big changes, what we do each day can change too. Stuart wants to know what happens to our days when someone we love has cancer."
Aimed at families with kids ages 4 to 10, this method of teaching is based on decades of solid science about how kids learn and cope with the major day-to-day changes that result from issues like cancer. What Happens When Someone I Love Has Cancer? is the perfect book for families that want to explain what cancer actually is and how it affects a kid's life, and applies to mothers, fathers, grandparents, siblings, and many types of cancer, including breast cancer, colon cancer, blood cancers such as leukemia, and bone cancers.
By creating a routine that kids can see and understand, parents can restore a sense of safety and predictability in their kids' lives, helping them to be more resilient in the face of life's inevitable challenges. What Happens When Someone I Love Has Cancer? helps families that want to reduce their kids' anxiety surrounding a scary diagnosis. It aims to empower kids with knowledge, which is proven to help kids through traumatic situations.
Meet Mia and Stuart
With her messy pigtails and sunny personality, Mia brings a bit of fun to books about hard topics. Explaining life's toughest stuff to her toy giraffe Stuart, Mia is the star of the What About Me? book series, where she's able to help kids feel safe by explaining exactly what they can expect when faced with big changes.
About the Author
Sara Olsher is the founder of Mighty + Bright, which helps families through hard things like divorce, cancer, and other major changes using visual magnetic calendars. Based on decades of research about emotional intelligence and how to talk to kids so they actually learn, Mighty + Bright's calendars have helped hundreds of families through some of the hardest times in their lives.

The little girl in NOWHERE HAIR knows two things: Her mom's hair is not on her head anymore, so therefore it must be somewhere around the house. After searching the obvious places, the story reveals that her mother, although going through cancer treatment, is still silly, attentive, happy and yes, sometimes very tired and cranky. She learns that she didn't cause the cancer, can't catch it, and that Mommy still is very much up for the job of mothering. The book, written in rhyme, explains hats, scarves, wigs, going bald in public, and the idea of being nice to people who may look a little different than you. It ends with the idea that what is inside of us is far more important than how we look on the outside. For any parent or grandparent, NOWHERE HAIR offers a comfortable platform to explain something that is inherently very difficult. Recommended by the American School Counselor Association and LIVESTRONG. Used in more than 100+ cancer centers. Now available in a Spanish edition, ¿Y el pelo? Explica el cáncer y la quimioterapia con sus hijos.

Butterfly Kisses and Wishes on Wings, an award-winning children's book, is a powerful listen-to/read-aloud story for children with a family member or friend who has been diagnosed with cancer. The book's rich, intuitive writing and beautiful, reflective illustrations facilitate a child's understanding of cancer. The storyline and drawings offer hope and encourage communication about this most difficult topic. Additionally, children come to realize the ability they have within themselves to be an active and integral part of their loved one's cancer journey. Together the author and illustrator (who are also cousins) make this book very real. Ellen McVicker gives voice to children and parents who may not have all the words that need to be said about cancer and its treatments, while Nanci Hersh, having walked through her cancer journey with her two young boys, touchingly conveys experiences of children through her exquisite artwork. The book is a first-person narrative from a child's experience of being told by his mother that she has cancer. It should be noted that the specific type of cancer is NOT mentioned in this book. The child gives his interpretation of his mother's explanations for the disease, and the treatments she is likely to receive. While preschool and school-aged children would benefit from this book, its use for young adolescents should not be disregarded. Butterfly Kisses and Wishes on Wings - a gift for any reader grasping to understand what it means when someone they love has cancer.

Do you love to ease stress by coloring? Do you hate cancer? Well, we're with you on both because cancer f*cking sucks and there's nothing better than coloring to calm the soul. This "Suck It Cancer" coloring book comes with 50 beautiful pages to inspire you.
This coloring book is great for you or as a gift for a friend or loved one. Inside, you'll find uplifting quotes, powerful mantras and positive affirmations to keep your head in the right place as you color away. Get your copy now as it's only going to be 65% off for a limited time.
What's Inside
50 gorgeous pages to inspire you
Single sided for framing and to prevent bleed through
Large sized 8.5 x 11 inch pages
Variance in difficulty levels
Uplifting quotes and powerful mantras to help you stay strong
Unique one of a kind designs you won't find anywhere else
Perfect gift for cancer patients, cancer survivors and those affected by cancer
Take a moment to sit, relax and lift your spirits. This hopeful coloring book is filled with positive affirmations to help you stay strong through the toughest of times. Remember, you are not alone. Never give up hope.

Are you looking for an engaging children's book to teach your kids about breast cancer? This is it!
"Mommy Has a Boo-Boo" helps kids ages 3-9 learn what their Mommy is going through. The book explains that you can't see the boo-boo and tells the kids what it is called: Cancer.
It goes through the timeline of what one mommy went through — from having surgery and losing her breasts, to having to go through chemotherapy and losing her hair.
Mommy may look different, and it will take time for Mommy to heal — but in the end, she will get better!
From Readers:
"Highly recommend. This story is a perfectly sweet, simple way to describe to your young child exactly what is to come. My daughter asks me to read it over and over and it helps stimulate great conversation and questions."
"This is an educational book that teaches young children about breast cancer. It is a good book that explains what a parent and family might go through when a parent has cancer. This book explains cancer in simple terms and can open up conversation at home."

When I was first diagnosed with cancer my daughter was only 3. I found myself struggling to find books to explain cancer and chemotherapy induced hair loss to her. This is the story of how I introduced my bald head to my daughter.
This is a picture book with a rhyming story. It puts the concepts of cancer and chemotherapy in gentle and easy to understand terms. I use the term "yucky medicine" to describe chemotherapy so it's easier for a child to understand.
All of the illustrations are done by me and are colorful and fun.

Someone You Love Has Cancer: A Child's Guide to Understanding provides a platform for conversation between parents and children, as well as teachers and their students. This educational poem was written to empower children and ease their anxiety by opening meaningful conversations based on facts.
A Child's Guide comes with a Glossary of Terms, as well as fundraising ideas and instructions on how to create a Memory Box.
Robin Martin Duttmann is an award-winning author, poet, and creative writing teacher for children at The Windsor International Writers Conference.
Her book Zoo on the Moon received Honorable Mention at the 2013 Purple Dragonfly Literary Awards of Arizona, for best new Children's Picture Book ages five and younger. Her second book June Bug Jamboree received the same award at the Royal Dragonfly Book Awards in 2014. In the summer of 2014, Zoo on the Moon was selected for primary science curriculum in 147 countries by the IBLibrary.com in its newly developed primary year program.
In October 2015, the author was a contributor to Chicken Soup for the Soul's Think Possible.
She also recently underwent treatment for triple negative breast cancer. With her positive, can-do attitude, she and a group of other women modeled for the Cancer Center's billboards and posters during a one-month fundraising event that brought over $71,000 directly to the Windsor Regional Cancer Center, Ontario, Canada.
This book was made possible with contributions from Rosser Reeves Jewellers in honour of family, friends, and customers whose lives have been touched by cancer.
www.rosserreeves.com
Publisher's website: http: //sbpra.com/RobinMartin-Duttmann/

BK's Mommy Has Breast Cancer was written to help a 7 year old boy understand and deal with his mother's Breast Cancer diagnosis. With great understanding and planning, he learns that there are many small ways he can help his mother while she is on her Breast Cancer Journey. He realizes that he can be a friend, entertainer, work out buddy, and caregiver. Author, Marquita Goodluck, a Breast Cancer warrior, wrote this book to help parents and children deal with the difficult and scary journey of Breast Cancer. Written entirely in the image of her family with factual events, BK's Mommy Has Breast Cancer Is the perfect positive, authentic, and upbeat book to help any family facing Cancer. With it's rhyming text and positive illustrations, BK's Mommy Has Breast Cancer is the perfect book to encourage children to be hopeful and helpful as their loved one fights one of the hardest battles of their life

The Cancer That Wouldn’t Go Away is a groundbreaking book, written especially for the child whose parent is living with metastatic cancer. This sensitively written tale uses a gentle, yet realistic approach to help children ages 4-8 face the unique uncertainties of life with incurable cancer. Unlike stories about early-stage cancer, after which the parent is cured and life goes back to normal, for the family in this story, life has irrevocably changed. The future is uncertain. But love and laughter remain constant, as they take life one day at a time. Includes a comprehensive guide (“How To Use This Book”) for parents and professionals, written by child trauma psychologist Rinat R. Green, Psy.D. Revenues from the sale of this book go directly to a nonprofit cancer organization.

My dad is a cancer fighting hero!!
There are many books on the market focused on the mother's experience with cancer. I wanted to make a book with representation for the dads going through cancer too. This fun and gentle book has a rhyming structure and cute illustrations. This would be perfect for a young child anywhere from 3-6 years old. There are no scary terms in this book or mentions of a specific outcome of treatment or a specific cancer. The emphasis is on the relationship with dad, the fact that cancer is not the child's fault, and the love that cancer cannot take!

My grandma is a cancer fighting queen!
This fun and gentle book has a rhyming structure and cute illustrations. This would be perfect for a young child anywhere from 3-6 years old. There are no scary terms in this book or mentions of a specific outcome of treatment or a specific cancer. The emphasis is on the relationship with grandma and helping children understand that cancer can't take away the love that grandma has for them!
The author and illustrator is Chelsey Gomez, an artist and two time cancer survivor. Her daughter was turning 3 when Chelsey was diagnosed, and so she aims to give back and help children cope with cancer.

Celebrate the Cancer Warrior
"My Mommy is a Cancer Warrior" explores a difficult topic to discuss with children. Using easy to understand words and imagery, this book shows the superpowers that mommies have when fighting cancer.
In this book, a "cancer warrior" is defined as someone who is at high risk of developing cancer (previvor), someone who currently has cancer, or someone who had cancer in the past (survivor).