grief

A year ago, Gage survived a car accident that killed his best friend, Hunter. Without the person who always brought out the best in him, Gage doesn't know who he is. He likes working as a fry cook and loves his small-town friends and family, but they weren't in the wreck and he can't tell them how much he's still hurting. He just wants to forget all his pain and move on. So when his stepdad shows him a dream job opening in one of his idol's restaurants, Gage knows this is his chance to convince everyone and himself that he's fine. To try to push past his grief once and for all, Gage applies for the job, asks out a crush, and volunteers to host a memorial for Hunter. But the more Gage tries to ignore his grief, the more volatile it becomes. When his temper finally turns on the people he loves, Gage must decide what real strength is--holding in his grief until it destroys him, or asking for help and revealing his broken heart for all to see.

". . . Billy misses his Mommy very much. She lives in the clouds. Some days the sun is shining and Mommy's clouds are nowhere to be seen. Those are Billy's favorite days when he and Daddy would play in the garden all day long, and Billy knows that Mommy is letting the sun shine for them. But not all days are like that. Sometimes Mommy's clouds are dark, and Billy feels sad and alone . . ."--Provided by publisher.

"From the gifted young author of Clues to the Universe, this contemporary middle grade maps one girl's quest to visit her late Ye-Ye's favorite spots in San Francisco's Chinatown and her fight against gentrification with a new friend. Thanks to her Ye-Ye's epic scavenger hunts, Ruby Chu knows San Francisco like the back of her hand. But when he dies, she feels lost. It seems like everyone, from her best friends to her older sister, is abandoning he--and after Ruby gets caught skipping lunch to avoid sitting alone, she's staring down a summer spent at her Nai-Nai's senior center. When a new boy from Ruby's class, Liam Yeung, starts showing up too, Ruby's humiliation is complete. But Nai-Nai, her friends, and Liam all surprise Ruby. She finds herself working with Liam, who might not be as annoying as he seems, to help save a historic Chinatown bakery that's being priced out of the neighborhood. Alongside Nai-Nai, who is keeping a secret that threatens to change everything, Ruby retraces Ye-Ye's scavenger hunt maps in an attempt to find a way out of her grief--and maybe even find herself.

Still coping with the death of their father, twelve-year-old Mars tries to figure out their place on and off the rink as they navigate being nonbinary in a traditionally gendered sport.

A group of animal friends navigates a new school year together as they grieve the loss of their friend, Rosie.

Twelve-year-old Indian-American Pandita Paul deals with change, grief, friendship, and growing up in a community facing a housing crisis.

"In 1910 New York City, four years after her Irish immigrant father dies of tuberculosis, ten-year-old Essie's fear and anxiety continue to grow uncontrollably, so much that when her mother, a brave nurse, remarries and the family moves to North Brother Island, where Essie's new stepfather runs a quarantine hospital for the incurably sick, Essie imagines all manner of horrors, including the ghost of a little girl--which might not be imaginary after all"--OCLC.

Twelve-year-old Boomi accidentally travels back in time to 1986 Thumpton-on-Soar, England, where she meets her late father as a child, changing her life forever.

Estranged from the best friend whose brother killed her sister in a school shooting, a grieving Cora receives a message on her twelfth birthday from her friend, asking for her help with creating a time portal to prevent the tragedy.

Twelve-year-old Aisha finds comfort in sailing after a tragedy, but when she sets sail one night, pursued by her brother Sai, they must work through their feelings and trust each other to survive a storm. Includes glossary, discussion questions, writing prompts, and information about ocean sailing.