Nowhere Hair is a great children's book that will help you discuss chemotherapy-induced hair loss with a child. Sue Glader writes lovingly from her personal experience, having gone through breast cancer treatment while raising a one-year-old child. Based on a poem she wrote for her own son, Nowhere Hair covers many cancer issues that often concern young children. This award-winning book has been used by parents, teachers, doctors, nurses and social workers to help families talk about children's worries while a parent is in treatment for cancer.
Quick Look
- Firmly rooted in the child's point of view
- Kid-friendly language and art
- Covers a child's concerns for the parent
- Stays positive while being open about hair loss
Cons
- Boys might not relate to the mother-daughter story
Guide Review - Nowhere Hair - Talking to Children About Cancer
Children can't always see how cancer treatment affects your body - but when your hair goes missing - your kids may ask questions! Sue Glader has been down that road, and written Nowhere Hair to help you discuss a parent's cancer with a young child. The book is written in the child's voice as if she is telling another child about her mother's cancer.
"It makes me scared that she is sick. I want her well right now."
A children's book can look deceptively simple. It looks like only 32 pages of gorgeous, energetic illustrations with musical words dancing alongside. But this book follows a little girl who is looking for her mother's hair. The grown-ups know that chemotherapy caused this hair loss, but a child wonders if she did something that caused the problem. The book shows how a child can learn how to cope with feelings of confusion, worry, fear, guilt, and sorrow at the changes in their beloved parent. At the same time, it gives that parent a way to talk through these issues and lift the emotional weight of cancer into a lighter vein. Nowhere Hair accomplishes this difficult task. The book doesn't address life and death questions, but it does help with the everyday issues that come up when a parent is having chemotherapy.
"She says, 'Be patient, Little One.' That seems so hard somehow."
Nowhere Hair has been used by school groups, cancer clinics, support groups, and cancer resource centers. Teachers, nurses, pediatricians, social workers, and patient advocates have worked with this book to help young children. But you don't have to be a professional person to use this book. Parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and supportive family friends may find this book very useful in talking with a child about cancer.
I have found it easy to read this book over and over, and it wears very well. Even though I would like to keep it, I plan to pass it on to my nephew's teacher, so many other kids can benefit from reading Nowhere Hair.
Book Description
- Author: Sue Glader
- Publisher: Thousand Words Press
- Illustrator: Edith Buenen
- Award: 2011 Moonbeam Children's Book Award, Gold Medal Winner for Health
- ISBN: 9780984359103
- Copyright: September 2010
- List Price: $15.99 for casebound
- E-Books: $7.39 for Kindle, $8.99 for Color Nook or Apple iBook
- Book Details: Casebound, 32 pages, 9 x 8 inches
About the Author:
Sue Glader is a ten-year breast cancer survivor. She is raising a son, is married, jogs, blogs, and speaks to cancer support groups. Her boy Hans was just a little more than one year old when she found a lump in her armpit and she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Sue wrote a poem for her son and that poem became the basis for her book, Nowhere Hair.
