“Books Heal Hearts” is a project set up by the Cyrenius H. Booth Library with donations, both monetary and physical books, given in response to the Sandy Hook School tragedy. While many of the book donations will be added to our permanent collection, we have multiple copies of many titles freely available for community groups and members to keep or pass along to others. Books Heal Hearts is a special project for healing that will make materials available for use in our library, our schools, and throughout our community, wherever there is a need and whatever that need may be. This will be an ongoing effort by the library to meet the immediate and future needs of our community.

Checks made out to: Cyrenius H. Booth Library with Books Heal Hearts written on the memo line can be mailed to:

Cyrenius H. Booth Library

25 Main Street

Newtown, CT 06470

Donations can also be made through the Booth Library's JustGive page. Please select "Books Heal Hearts" on the Program selection dropdown. Click here to give online through JustGive.

PLEASE contact the library before sending a large quantity of any title so that we can better match needs. Children's title inquiries can be made to chbooth@chboothlibrary.org. Adult title inquires can be made to chbtech@chboothlibrary.org. Thank you.

All donations are tax-deductible.

Available Books:

We currently have multiple copies of the following titles freely available. Books can be picked up at the library and are on display in the front lobby on the main floor. Please let us know if there is a specific title you need or if you need a large quantity. We especially encourage Newtown's & Sandy Hook's families, teachers, counselors and clergy to contact us with your needs, including titles that we may have run out of. These books are being given and do not need to be returned to the library.

The response has been wonderful. More books are coming, please check back, this list will continue to change. We currently have multiple copies of these titles along with single/few copies of many other titles (updated 5/17/13).

• The Adventures of Kevin Bonbevin: Sail Away by Kevin Caraccioli The adventures of Kevin, an almost seven-year-old, who takes an imaginative sail for Spain, all taking place in...a bathtub!
• The Adventures of Snowball the Polar Bear by Luis Deodato A tale of friends, wonders, and adventure. Snowball is just like any other child he's curious. . . and his curiosity leads him away to find new friends. Watch as snowball the polar bear meets different animals, accepts their differences, and finds his way back. The author is a handicap adult that despite his limitations has always seen the brighter side of life and wants nothing more but to share his work. Known for his writing abilities and his art. Luis Daniel Deodato invites you to see through his eyes.
• After a Loved One Dies - How Children Grieve: and how parents and other adults can support them by David J. Schonfeld Dr. Schonfeld is the Director for the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center which was established by a generous grant from the September 11th Children's Fund and National Philanthropic Trust.
• Death of a Child: reflections for grieving parents by Elaine E. Stillwell The Death of a Child is filled with stories of people who have lost a child and how they dealt with the reality of that event. This collection of life-giving lessons touches on a wide range of emotions and situations that parents may encounter after the death of their child.
• The Healing Book: facing the death - and celebrating the life - of someone you love by Ellen Sabin The Healing Book is an activity book, journal, and a scrapbook that sparks questions and conversations about the death of a loved one. It invites children to express feelings and record their memories of someone they love.
• Tear Soup: a recipe for healing after loss by Pat Schwiebert A modern-day fable, told in a richly illustrated children's book format, about a woman who has suffered a terrible loss.
• A Terrible Thing Happened by Margaret M. Holmes After Sherman sees something terrible happen, he becomes anxious and then angry, but when a counselor helps him talk about these emotions he feels better.