“Forever by Your Side,” a book to guide kids through grief
Children who are grieving the loss of a loved one now have a new resource available to them.
Maggie Skobel-Kaczmarczyk wrote and self-published the book “Forever by Your Side,” a story to help guide children through grief.
“I created the book for my son to help him with his grief,” explained Skobel-Kaczmarczyk.
The local author moved to Selkirk two years ago alongside her husband and son, Elias. Shortly after their move, Skobel-Kaczmarczyk’s Mom passed away.
She explained that she wanted to find a book that helped define the death of a family member to her son who was two years old at the time.
“I couldn’t really find anything I was looking for, so I took the challenge and wrote the book myself.”
Elias is now four years old, and Skobel-Kaczmarczyk has noticed an improvement in his mood since beginning to read the book to him.
“I have noticed that his separation anxiety has decreased as it (the book) has helped him feel like there is a situation similar to his,” said Skobel-Kaczmarczyk.
“Forever by Your Side” is geared towards younger children who have experienced the death of a family member. At the end of the story, there are pages to help children create a grief journal.
“There are pages for kids to draw pictures and there are some journal prompts to help them write about their feelings,” Skobel-Kaczmarczyk explained.
Her goal was to make “Forever by Your Side” a place where children could keep memories of their loved ones as a keepsake.
“It makes me happy that any child going through the process of grief has something to guide them.”
Skobel-Kaczmarczyk wants to make sure this resource is readily available when children need it.
Writing the book was a breeze for the author.
“The words came freely” she said.
She explained that the illustrations and publishing logistics took the most amount of time.
Dawn Piece illustrated “Forever by Your Side” and Skobel-Kaczmarczyk connected with Piece through an online illustration platform.
At the end of April 2024, Skobel-Kaczmarczyk herself eventually published “Forever by Your Side” on Amazon.
The local author has yet to finish the writing journey.
She is writing a second book about guiding children through the loss of a pet.
“We had to put our dog down a couple of months ago.”
Skobel-Kaczmarczyk is proud of the work she has already published and is excited to see where her books will guide her.
“Forever by Your Side” is available for purchase on Amazon and it will soon be available to loan at the Gaynor Regional Family Library.
