Please support your local independent bookstore. Not sure who that is?
Try IndieBound. Also available from Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com.
Emma’s Question is based on my family’s experience dealing with my mom’s cancer. Many of the details are true: the little girl and her mother visit Grandma in the hospital, much like my daughters and I visited my mom. They bring the game Chutes and Ladders; we usually brought Guess Who. Like the grandma in the story, my mom told her grandchildren that her IV rack was her “dancing partner.” This made them laugh and kept them from being scared. However, I did make up many of the details in Emma’s Question; for example, my mom was too polite to go to a restaurant and make up stories about the people at the next table.
The most important truth in Emma’s Question is the overall feeling behind the story. At one point, Emma notes that ‘with Grandma sick everything was different.’ Even though I was an adult at the time of my mom’s illness, I kept wishing everything could return to the way it was before. I wanted to stop feeling scared and sad.
Make a card for someone
who is sick or hurting
When people are sick or hurt, a card can make them feel better. Click here to create fun cards of your own.
In this Q & A psychologists explain why it's important to talk to children about illness and death and how best to approach these topics in conversation.
