Duttmann, Robin Martin.

Someone you love has cancer : a child's guide to understanding / by Robin Martin Duttmann ; illustrations by Kalpart. - Singapore : Strategic Book Publishing and Rights Co., 2017. - 29 numbered pages : color illustrations ; 22 cm

This educational poem was written to empower children and ease their anxiety by opening meaningful conversations based on facts. As it's in rhyming verses, this can be a useful way of helping children to understand about cancer as this format lends itself easily to being read aloud. The poem is illustrated, and some of the images are quite detailed, such as those depicting a woman in a radiation therapy machine, and connected to monitors. These may prepare a child in advance of seeing a loved one in a hospital or hospice setting and finding these experiences distressing. The poem explains cancer, mammograms, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, surgery, and side effects. The ending of this poem acknowledges implicitly that not all loved ones will recover. There is a glossary of terms that explains words which children may encounter, such as "abnormal", "benign""Picc line" etc. In addition, it includes instructions for making a memory box, fundraising ideas, and templates for donation letters and silent auctions. Suggested websites are included. Colour picturebook with rhyming text, activity book.

Audience: Child 8 – 10 years, or younger with an accompanying adult

Audience: Child 8 – 10 years, or younger with an accompanying adult

9781681819495 (paperback)


Cancer--Juvenile literature.
Stories in rhyme.

Adult with cancer Poem / rhyme Family experiencing cancer Hair loss: adult Hospital experience Treatment Explaining cancer / understanding cancer Reader participation activities


Stories in rhyme.
Juvenile works.