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by Katerina Levy (Author), Nithini Wathsala (Illustrator)
The Healing Garden: A Story about Coping with Childhood Cancer is a therapeutic children's fiction book designed to help children with cancer and their families navigate the emotional challenges of a cancer diagnosis and treatment. The story combines gentle storytelling with evidence-based and practical coping strategies, making skills and concepts easily understood through the magical friendship of Alex and Bear and their adventures in the Healing Garden.
When Alex meets Bear-a compassionate, magical companion in the hospital's "healing garden"-he learns ways to understand and express his feelings through supportive coping strategies such as the Feeling Finder, Bubble Breaths, and planting a Values Garden that represents what matters most.
Grounded in child psychology and mindfulness principles, this story normalizes difficult emotions like fear, anger, and sadness while promoting self-compassion, resilience, and hope. Clinicians, caregivers, and child life specialists can use The Healing Garden to facilitate conversations about coping, identity, and emotional regulation with children facing illness or hospitalization.
Both comforting and evidence-informed, The Healing Garden invites readers to discover that healing involves more than medicine-it also grows through connection, courage, and kindness.
