My Life By Me is an activity book/journal for children who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness. It draws parallels between human life and the life cycle of trees, to gently introduce the concept of dying and death. For example, one activity tells the reader that "trees must battle storms that bring wind, snow and rain. People face unexpected storms in their lives every day, often in the form of an illness", and this is followed with prompts for the reader to write/draw responses to their diagnosis, what caused their illness, and what it means. A later activity compares how tree roots are buried deep in the ground and how the reader may have thoughts or fears which they keep buried deep down inside themselves, with prompts to write down their responses to "It is not fair that..." and "I am scared..." As the book builds from an innocuous comparison (comparing the reader's thumbprint with the rings inside a tree trunk) to much more difficult concepts, such as medication side effects and the process of dying and saying goodbye, it is better to start it from the beginning, although there is no need to complete all activities to progress through. No specific illness is identified, so this book is appropriate for all terminal illnesses. There is no discussion of life after death; My Life By Me is exclusively focused on enabling the child to document their life and try to make sense of dying. Activity book. There is a guide for parents and caregivers available on line which gives age-appropriate advise on discussing death with children.

Child 8 - 12 years; Adult caregiver