Since Samantha Jane's dad died, she has been sad and quiet, keeping to herself. One day, her neighbor Mrs. Cooper gently asks her about her missing smile, and Sammy Jane begins to open up about her grief, her worries, and her confusion. Sammy Jane's mother joins her daughter in Mrs. Cooper's garden, and helps her further with accepting and responding to her profound loss.

 

There are 32 pages in this book. This is a picture book. A picture book uses pictures and text to tell the story. The number of words varies from zero ('wordless') to around 1k over 32 pages. Picture books are typically aimed at young readers (age 3-6) but can also be aimed at older children (7+). This book was published 2007 by American Psychological Association .

Donna Pincus, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and an Associate Professor at Boston University. She is also the Director of the Child and Adolescent Fear and Anxiety Treatment Program at the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders at Boston University and is editor and creator of the Child Anxiety Network, a website dedicated to providing information about child anxiety and its treatments. She lives in Newton, Massachusetts, with her family. Julie B. Kaplow, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist with expertise in the psychological consequences of childhood trauma and loss. She has served on the Traumatic Grief Task Force of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and she is the Principal Investigator of an NIMH study examining mental health outcomes in children who have lost a parent. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her family. Beth Spiegel is the illustrator of First Grade Stinks! by Barbara Bottner and Samantha Jane's Missing Smile by Julie Kaplow and Donna Pincus. She lives in Altadena, California.