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MAR |
With You and Without You
(age 10+) by Ann Matthews Martin family ... illness/loss A twelve-year-old faces the fact that her father is dying, and then his death, but dealing with the emptiness afterwards is hardest of all. |
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HEN |
Bird Lake Moon
(age 10+) by Kevin Henkes illness/loss ... family ... friendship ... spooky Publisher comments: Spencer thought the house might be haunted. Mitch knew it wasn't. And he knew why. The whole time Spencer and Mitch hung out together at Bird Lake that summer, there were secrets keeping them apart. And maybe a secret knowledge keeping them together, too...together like members of the same tribe. Like friends. |
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ABB |
The Postcard
(age 10+) by Tony Abbott mystery ... illness/loss ... family Publisher comments: She died today. One phone call changes Jason's summer vacation-and life!-forever. When Jason's grandmother dies, he's sent down to her home in Florida to help his father clean out her things. At first he gripes about spending his summer miles away from his best friend, doing chores, and sweating in the Florida heat, but he soon discovers a mystery surrounding his grandmother's murky past. An old, yellowed postcard...a creepy phone call with a raspy voice at the other end asking, "So how smart are you?..".an entourage of freakish funeral goers....a bizarre magazine story. All contain clues that will send him on a thrilling journey to uncover family secrets. |
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DIC |
The Tiger Rising
(age 10+) by Kate DiCamillo illness/loss ... growing up ... friendship Walking through the misty Florida woods one morning, twelve-year-old Rob Horton is stunned to encounter a tiger ... a real-life, very large tiger ... pacing back and forth in a cage. What's more, on the same extraordinary day, he meets Sistine Bailey, a girl who shows her feelings as readily as Rob hides his. As they learn to trust each other, and ultimately, to be friends, Rob and Sistine prove that some things ... like memories, and heartaches, and tigers ... can't be locked up forever. |
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SNY |
And Condors Danced
(age 10+) by Zilpha Keatley Snyder historical ... growing up ... illness/loss The year Carly turns eleven, 1907, is filled with playing detective, watching condors, observing a fierce feud involving her family's Southern California ranch, and coping with unexpected tragedies. |
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KAY |
The Divide Series (age 10+) by Elizabeth Kay humor ... fantasy ... adventure ... illness/loss When Felix's parents take him to "The Divide" ... a spot in Costa Rica where the waters that run down to the Pacific and Atlantic oceans separate ... Felix finds himself in a bizarre parallel world where mythical creatures and magic are a reality. There, he meets Betony, a tangle child and herbalist who becomes his friend in this strange land. As Felix explores this new world he soon discovers that its mythical beasts and fairy folk think Felix is a legendary creature who uses practical science instead of magic! Will Felix ever find his way back home...and will he want to? title: The Divide title: Back to the Divide title: Jinx on the Divide |
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LEV |
The Two Princesses of Bamarre
(age 10+) by Gail Carson Levine princesses ... adventure ... fantasy ... magic ... illness/loss When a plague strikes Bamarre, Princess Addie must save her sister. Brave and adventureous, Princess Meryl dreams of fighting dragons and protecting the kingdom of Bamarre. Shy and fearful, Princess Addie is content to stay within the safety of the castle walls. The one thing that the sisters share is their unwavering love for each other. The tables are turned, however, when the Gray Death leaves Meryl fatally ill. To save her sister, meek Princess Addie must find the courage to set out on a dangerous quest filled with dragons, unknown magic, and death itself. Time is running out, and the sisters' lives ... and the future of the kingdom of Bamarre ... hang in the balance. |
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CLE |
Where the Lilies Bloom
(age 10+) by Vera Cleaver historical ... family ... illness/loss Publisher comments: Mary Call has promised her dying father to keep her brother and sisters together forever on the mountain, and never to take any help from strangers. She is determined to keep her word No matter what. At first she is sure she can manage. Romey, Ima Dean, and Devola help gather herbs to sell in town; the riches of the mountains will surely keep the family clothed and fed. But then winter comes, fast and furious, and Mary Call has to learn that the land where the lilies bloom is also a cruel and unforgiving place, and it may take more than a promise to keep her family together. |
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CLA |
Hill Hawk Hattie
(age 10+) by Clara Gillow Clark adventure ... historical ... illness/loss Catalog: Angry and lonely after her mother dies, eleven-year-old Hattie pretends to be a boy and joins her father on a adventure-filled rafting trip down the Delaware River in the late 1800s to transport logs from New York to Philadelphia. |
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YUM |
The Friends
(age 10+) by Kazumi Yumoto friendship ... illness/loss Curious about death, three sixth-grade boys decide to spy on an old man waiting for him to die, but they end up becoming his friends. |
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GRE |
Beat the Turtle Drum
(age 10+) by Constance C. Greene family ... illness/loss A young girl learns to cope with her feelings about her sister's accidental death. |
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FLE |
Flying Solo
(age 10+) by Ralph Fletcher friendship ... school ... illness/loss Rachel, having chosen to be mute following the sudden death of a classmate, shares responsibility with the other sixth-graders who decide not to report that the substitute teacher failed to show up. |
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RYL |
Missing May
(age 10+) by Cynthia Rylant illness/loss ... family After the death of the beloved aunt who has raised her, twelve-year-old Summer and her uncle Ob leave their West Virginia trailer in search of the strength to go on living. |
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HEN |
Olive's Ocean
(age 10+) by Kevin Henkes illness/loss ... growing up ... friendship ``Olive Barstow was dead. She'd been hit by a car on Monroe Street while riding her bicycle weeks ago. That was about all Martha knew.'' Martha Boyle and Olive Barstow could have been friends. But they weren't, and now all that is left are eerie connections between two girls who were in the same grade at school and who both kept the same secret without knowing it. Now Martha can't stop thinking about Olive. A family summer on Cape Cod should help banish those thoughts; instead, they seep in everywhere. |
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HOL |
Following Fake Man
(age 10+) by Barbara Ware Holmes identity ... illness/loss ... mystery ... family Homer Aldrich Winthrop was a neurologist who died of a neurological illness. That's all Homer Jr.'s mother will say about his father, who died when he was two. On an unexpected trip to Maine, 12-year-old Homer realizes there may be a reason his father is such a secret. |
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CRE |
Walk Two Moons
(age 10+) by Sharon Creech illness/loss ... identity ... growing up ... friendship ... voyages/journeys ... family As Salamanca travels cross-country with her eccentric grandparents, she tells the story of Phoebe Winterbottom, who received mysterious messages, who met a ``potential lunatic,'' and whose mother disappeared--just like Sal's. |