When a school community loses a child, parent, or teacher, the experience can be devastating to the whole community. Few things in life can prepare anyone for such a tragedy. Teachers and parents often struggle with how to speak with the children and may have important questions, such as: What is the best way to work with grief? What happens after death? How can we stay connected? Working through shock, grief, and even depression is a necessary step in life following a death in one's community. Torin Finser--long-serving faculty member of the Waldorf Teacher Edu-cation Program at Antioch University New England--presents stories, fairy tales, personal anecdotes, and even the Egyptian Book of the Dead to help children and adults deal with loss through spiritual insights into the meaning of death and suggestions for how a school community can build resilience by coming together after the loss of a colleague or fellow student. The False Door between Life and Death is an indispensible resource to prepare teachers and par-ents who are likely to face a death at some time in their community. CONTENTS: Preface: The False Door Personal Experiences of Death When a Child Dies Talking with Children about Death One Day at a Time Children and Grief Spiritual Perspectives on Death The Legend of Baldur The Golden Casket More Stories that Help Children with Loss Adolescent Boys and Death The Open Door (by Karine Munk Finser) How to Stay Connected Conclusion Appendices Verses for the Dead; Mistletoe "The Juniper Tree" by the Grimm brothers "The Odor of Chrysanthemums" by D. H. Lawrence When a World Tragedy Comes into a Child or Teen's World Bringing Death Home
