Grief

Up To Low

Young Tommy hasn’t been to the town of Low for two years – not since his mother’s death. And it’s been two years since he’s seen little Baby Bridget, the girl with the trillium-shaped eyes. But now Tommy, his father, and his father’s friend Frank are driving in a shiny new Buick up the through the Gatineau Hills to reach the small Quebecois town – a place steeped in the culture of its Irish settlers. A host of colorful characters await him in Low – Crazy Mickey, Tommy’s 100-old Irish great-grandfather; Grandma Minnie, Mickey’s 99-year-old wife; and dear Aunt Dottie, who carries a huge bottle of Lysol for washing raspberries and socks. Then there’s Mean Hughie, Baby Bridget’s abusive father who is ill with cancer. For Tommy, it’s a summer when love and death are all mixed up – and healing comes in unexpected ways.

Remembering Grandma / Recordando a Abuela

A poignant bilingual picture book about the death of a grandmother Like most Saturdays, Mr. García’s rooster wakes Lorena much earlier than she wants to wake up. Lorena pulls the covers over her head to block out the day, but she knows she has to get up. Today is no ordinary Saturday. She and her mother will be going to Grandpa’s house. Since Grandma’s recent death, everything has changed for Lorena. Her mother often cries, and Grandpa sits motionless in his chair staring out the window. Though Mamá says Grandma must be in heaven, Lorena misses Grandma, too. She can’t see or touch heaven. Where is Grandma? At Grandpa’s house, Lorena tries to help him stop grieving, but not even Grandma’s miracle words, “sana, sana, colita de rana…” work. How can Lorena help Grandpa? Lorena notices a beatiful carved chest in the corner of the room. When Lorena opens it, she sees a tangle of colors, fabrics, and keepsakes from when Grandma was alive.

Looking For Alaska (Printz Award Winner)

Miles “Pudge” Halter is abandoning his safe-okay, boring-life. Fascinated by the last words of famous people, Pudge leaves for boarding school to seek what a dying Rabelais called the “Great Perhaps.”
Pudge becomes encircled by friends whose lives are everything but safe and boring. Their nucleus is razor-sharp, sexy, and self-destructive Alaska, who has perfected the arts of pranking and evading school rules. Pudge falls impossibly in love. When tragedy strikes the close-knit group, it is only in coming face-to-face with death that Pudge discovers the value of living and loving unconditionally.
John Green’s stunning debut marks the arrival of a stand-out new voice in young adult fiction.

Riding the Universe

Seventeen-year-old Chloé Rodriguez, who inherited her uncle’s beloved Harley after his death, spends the subsequent year trying to pass chemistry, wondering whether she should look for her birth parents, and beginning an unlikely relationship with her chemistry tutor, while also trying to figure out how she really feels about the boy who has been her best friend since they were children.

Nana’s Big Surprise / Nana, Que Sorpresa! (Spanish Edition)

Amada and her family build a chicken coop, hoping that her grandmother, visiting from Mexico, will enjoy raising the chickens and be distracted from her grief at Grandfather’s death.

 

Alicia Afterimage

On the evening of September 24, 2004, sixteen-year-old Alicia María Betancourt was killed in a car accident. Popular, happy, fun-loving Alicia daughter, sister, and friend to so many gone in an instant. How would those left behind cope with such a sudden, devastating loss? Wrestling with grief, anger, mortality, and spirituality, Alicia’s loved ones struggle to create a lasting place in their hearts for someone who is no longer a physical presence. They share joyful and painful memories, and discover the resilient power of enduring friendship and love. In time, each person finds a way to heal while keeping Alicia’s vibrant spirit alive for those who knew her, and those who never will. Alicia Afterimage is a remarkable story of loss and recovery, but mostly it is a story of love. In this moving tribute to an extraordinary girl, readers will find a pathway through grief and a road map to remembrance. It is a book of comfort for all teens and adults who seek a way to ease the pain of losing someone they cherished.