Dear Bruno by Alice Trillin

This reassuring little hardback book, illustrated with whimsical drawings by New Yorker cartoonist Koren, is intended for children with cancer. But it is also for their parents, caretakers, and is also an enlightening read for anybody really to gain some understanding of what some patients might go through. The text takes the form of a letter which educator and television producer Trillin wrote in 1979 to Bruno Navasky, a friend's 12-year-old son, who had just been diagnosed with cancer. Trillin, who herself had cancer, shares her experiences with Bruno and tries to cheer up his days with humor and a frank attitude toward the illness. Calvin, Alice's husband wrote a book about his wife who passed away in 2001.