Grief is a delicate and difficult time in any person’s life, even more so for children. Events such as death and intense illness may be ideas that are incomprehensible at such a young age. Jessica Correnti has spent her professional life working with methods on how to consider these emotions. Let’s explore how Jessica’s work helps families navigate challenging yet crucial topics like loss, change, and bereavement.
Introducing Jessica Correnti
Following an extensive education in young children’s curriculum, psychology, and healthcare administration, Jessica’s journey has led her to work in different children’s hospitals across the country, including the pediatric cardiovascular ICU at All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, and John Hopkins Children’s Center. Overall, Jessica’s career spans 16 years as a Certified Child Life Specialist, a role in which she’s worked with children and families to assist in facing anxieties and grief during traumatic life events.
Books by Jessica Correnti
Jessica has harnessed these years of experience to craft children’s books aimed at her young audience to guide them through these tough emotions. Her bibliography includes The ABCs of Grief and Forever Connected, the latter dealing specifically with bereaved siblings. Her forthcoming third book, The ABCs of Grief: Emotions & Feelings, will be released in March 2025.
Today, we’ll discuss her motivation and inspiration to create these works. But first, let’s take a deeper look at her current releases and upcoming projects.
Forever Connected
Forever Connected is a brilliant resource to assist children dealing with grief. The focus of this story is bereavement centered on a child losing a sibling. It explores the deep connections and loss experienced when a child loses their brother or sister.
The ABCs of Grief
Children experience a lot of changes and emotions that are not entirely understandable when faced with the death of a loved one. The ABCs of Grief guides children through those traumatic times and helps them find healthy methods of managing their emotions.
The ABCs of Grief: Emotions & Feelings
As a product of art therapy, The ABCs of Grief: Emotions & Feelings is the second book in Jessica’s ABCs of Grief series. It continues the discussion about grief with children, using colorful illustrations and alphabet imagery to describe the vast range of emotions that stem from loss.
A Conversation With Jessica Correnti
Now that we’ve learned about Jessica and her books, let’s hear about the creative inspirations behind her incredible work.
You write children’s books about grief; what was the inspiration for you to discuss such a difficult topic?
Well, to answer this question, it comes from two different places. It is both a blend of my personal experiences and my professional expertise. As a professional, I’ve been certified as a Child Life specialist for the last 16+ years. So, what that means is that I have been supporting children and families grieving a variety of different losses in both the hospital and community settings.
Personally speaking, I became a bereaved mom eight years ago, and that changed everything. I realized how needed extra support, resources, and books were. I was helping my own two young children navigate what grief is: what does it mean; why do I feel this way? And I realized that, with my professional background, I have some knowledge and skills that are not necessarily commonplace.
I began realizing that there were a lot of parents who had no idea what to say or how to say it, and I wanted to create books that were literally able to give adults the words so that they could open up a conversation so that their children could understand what grief is: why do I feel this way; how do I move through it?
So, really, it’s a blend of both that personal and professional background that I have, and it’s also a way for me to honor my daughter who died. It’s her legacy, and I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing without her and my experience of bringing her into the world.
Here at Bookstr, we’re very grateful to Jessica for sharing her story. Her work is crucial, especially for those who have children and need a way to navigate through their grief. Make sure to pick up Jessica’s new book releasing in March 2025, The ABCs of Grief: Emotions & Feelings.
Click here to read another article about grief: Teach Your Kiddos How To Handle Grief With These Three Amazing Books.
Make sure to visit our Author’s Corner Spotlight: Female Authors bookshelf on Bookshop for more recommendations.
