Another great book in the series by Linda Tuhiwai Smith, illustrated by Isobel Joy Te Aho-White, Ka Wehi au ki ngā Wenerei (I don't like Wednesdays) is about a boy whose brother dies on a Wednesday. With the support of his whānau, community, kura and friends, he learns that Wednesdays will never be the same, but they will always remind him of his brother and in that way, Wednesdays are special.
There are some learning objectives in the back of the book which can help parents and caregivers support grieving and hurting children. They include naming the thing that is terrible, talking and validating feelings, validating that children are not responsible or guilty for terrible things, recognising that some wounds are external and some internal, and that words like "death", "suicide" and "abuse" can be used with children because they hear them in public and with their peers. These are things that we can work on in therapy as well, with the child individually and with whānau and family.
I recommend this book for tamariki aged about four to sixteen-years-old. And there is a Te Reo Māori and Te Reo Pākehā version available from Huia Publishers.
