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. |
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. |
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. |
MAR |
The Fledglings
(age 10+) by Sandra Markle nature ... family ... illness/loss ... animals Orphaned after the death of her mother, fourteen-year-old Kate runs away to live with her grandfather, a Cherokee Indian who is fighting the poaching of predator birds. |
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. |
COU |
Getting Near to Baby
(age 10+) by Audrey Couloumbis illness/loss ... family Although 13-year-old Willa Jo and her Aunt Patty seem to be constantly at odds, staying with her and Uncle Hob helps Willa Jo and her younger sister come to terms with the death of their family's baby. |
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. |
RAS |
Figgs and Phantoms
(age 10+) by Ellen Raskin illness/loss ... family Chronicles the adventures of the unusual Figg family after they left show business and settled in the town of Pineapple. Mona must adjust to being part of an unusual family in ordinary surroundings, but also must deal with the potential loss of her favorite uncle. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |