Abstract

A taboo subject in today's society, death is something that we do not like to talk about and especially do not like young people talking about. Yet, without opportunities to talk, young people's anxieties about death can manifest themselves in all sorts of self-destructive and socially-destructive ways. In this book, Nick Luxmoore explores the problems that arise when death is not openly discussed with young people and offers invaluable advice about how best to allay concerns without having to pretend that there are easy answers. He covers all of the key issues from the physicality of death to the fear of not existing to the way young people's morality develops and he provides expert insight into the impact these subjects have on young people's behaviour.

This book presents a wealth of information for professionals, parents and others working with young people, providing the skills needed to ask young people the difficult question, "Do you think much about death?", and to support them as they begin their answer.

a valuable and informative resource for parents and professionals in how the teenage mind works... I strongly recommend this very readable book. Schools, youth workers and parents will gain a great deal from this work and teenagers will benefit as a result.
Children & Young People Now
Highly readabale exploration of how teenagers view and deal with death, often unconsciously... a thought provoking read with some fine examples of how anyone working with young people might approach the subject of, in the words of the title, death and the unfairness of everything.
The SL (School Librarian)
Nick Luxmoore is a school counsellor, trainer, teacher, youth worker and UKCP registered Psychodrama psychotherapist. He has over 35 years' experience of work with young people and with the professionals who support them. He has previously published Listening to Young People in School, Youth Work and Counselling; Working with Anger and Young People; Feeling like Crap: Young People and the Meaning of Self-esteem; Young People in Love and in Hate and Young People and the Curse of Ordinariness, all published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. He currently works as the Counsellor at King Alfred's Academy, Wantage, UK.
Nick Luxmoore's book is fascinating exploration of this taboo subject and the problems that can arise when it is not discussed openly with young people... This book has much to offers on the role of parents and professionals in helping young people accept the unfairness of life and to find meaning and contentment in their lives. It's an engaging and insightful work with plenty of useful advice about seldom talked about subjects.
Young Minds Magazine
The book is a useful read for helping professionals and parents. The nuances of severe adolescent grief and suffering are effectively discussed. The narrative is real-world and compelling, not sugar-coated as some books are when addressing the complex issues of death and existential pain.
Christopher Sink, Ph.D., professor of Counselor Education at Seattle Pacific University and editor of the Professional School Counseling Journal
This honest book - sometimes painfully so - is far more than a primer for dealing with the death of a child. It is, rather, a clearly written and jargon-free analysis of how young people themselves see death.
Church Times
Nick Luxmoore is one of the outstanding writers on the adolescent stage of life. He tackles issues and asks questions that, for most of us, are too hot to handle. In this book he encourages us to think the unthinkable, that teenagers are concerned with death and with their own mortality. This is a fascinating and important book, and should be read by all who are concerned with the lives, particularly the inner lives, of young people.
Dr. John Coleman OBE, Senior Research Fellow, University of Oxford
This book goes far and beyond the various stages of grief and the mixed feelings evoked in young people after someone has died, and explores beyond the euphemisms used to describe it... This book is bound to give adults the encouragement they need to adopt a more open forum for young people to talk about death, and makes essential reading for anyone caring for, or working with, young people.
Youth in Mind
Death: the great common denominator, and the last great taboo. How do young people understand and grapple with it? How does it "work" in the ways they relate to adults, to each other and to themselves? How does it shape or thwart their ambitions and their sense of justice? Immensely readable, full of wisdom, and enriched by vivid case material, Nick Luxmoore's book provides answers to these questions. It will be invaluable reading for anyone working with young people.
Ron Best, Emeritus Professor of Education, University of Roehampton