Books about grief, loss, and healing for 13- to 15-year-olds
We are posting a series of book lists that come from a larger list we found while looking through the resources that Tu Nidito listed on their website. Tu Nidito is one of the organizations that the Tohono O’odham Nation’s behavioral health specialists refer their grieving patients to. The larger list has about 100 titles for youth ages four to 18. It was put together by The New York Life Foundation and First Book “to empower and equip those working with bereaved children and families by providing necessary resources and meaningful stories.” Unless otherwise noted the book information noted below appears on the fbmarketplace.org website.
Rosa Santos is cursed by the sea—at least, that's what they say. Dating her is bad news, especially if you're a boy with a boat.
But Rosa feels more caught than cursed. Caught between cultures and choices. Between her abuela, a beloved healer and…
When Abdi's family is kidnapped, he's forced to do the unthinkable: become a child soldier with the ruthless jihadi group Al Shabaab. In order to save the lives of those he loves, and earn their freedom, Abdi agrees to be embedded as a spy within…
Isn't being human enough?
When teen social activist and history buff Kezi Smith is killed under mysterious circumstances after attending a social justice rally, her devastated sister Happi and their family are left reeling in the aftermath. As Kezi…
After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC-Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape—until Bree…
Eury comes to the Bronx as a girl haunted—by losing everything in Hurricane Maria and by an evil spirit, Ato, who she fears will find her in New York. Yet, for a time, she can almost set this fear aside, because there's this boy …
Pheus is a…
As the youngest of eight, painfully average Pup Flanagan is used to flying under the radar. He's barely passing his classes. He lets his longtime crush walk all over him. And he's in no hurry to decide on a college path. The only person who ever…
From before her mother's first oncology appointment through the stages of her cancer to the funeral, sitting shiva, and afterward, when she must try to make sense of her life as a motherless daughter, Tyler Feder tells her story in this graphic…
Discovered in the attic in which she spent the last years of her life, Anne Frank's remarkable diary has since become a world classic—a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit.
In 1942, with Nazis…
Along with losing a parent, the media's vilification of his father and lack of accountability has left Moss with near crippling panic attacks. Now, in his sophomore year of high school, Moss and his fellow classmates find themselves increasingly…
Jamal's best friend, Q, doesn't know he's about to die…again.
He also doesn't know that Jamal tried to save his life, rescuing him from drowning only to watch Q die later in the hospital. Even more complicated, Jamal and Q haven't been best friends…
It's 2032, and in this near-future America, all citizens are chipped and everyone is tracked—from buses to grocery stores. It's almost impossible to survive as an undocumented immigrant, but that's exactly what sixteen-year-old Vali is doing. She…
Micah Dupree had always liked being the "good girl." She was happy painting, going to church, and acing her school projects. After all, she had a perfect older brother to live up to. But when he unexpectedly dies, Micah's world is turned…
The Torres sisters dream of escape. Escape from their needy and despotic widowed father, and from their San Antonio neighborhood, full of old San Antonio families and all the traditions and expectations that go along with them. In the summer after…
Fourteen-year-old Ahmed is stuck in a city that wants nothing to do with him. Newly arrived in Brussels, Belgium, Ahmed fled a life of uncertainty and suffering in Syria, only to lose his father on the perilous journey. Now Ahmed's struggling to get…
From the moment Carli and Rex first locked eyes on the basketball court, they both knew it was destiny. But can you truly love someone else if you don't love yourself? Acclaimed author Liara Tamani's luminous second novel explores first love,…
Twelve-year-old Lowen Grover, a budding comic-book artist, is still reeling from the shooting death of his friend Abe when he stumbles across an article about a former mill town giving away homes for just one dollar. It not only seems like the…
Jay Reguero plans to spend the last semester of his senior year playing video games before heading to the University of Michigan in the fall. But when he discovers that his Filipino cousin Jun was murdered as part of President Duterte's war on…
Alfonso Jones can't wait to play the role of Hamlet in his school's hip-hop rendition of the classic Shakespearean play. He also wants to let his best friend, Danetta, know how he really feels about her. But as he is buying his first suit, an…
Wherever the sharks led, Lucy Everhart's marine biologist mother was sure to follow. In fact, she was on a boat far off the coast of Massachusetts, collecting shark data when she died suddenly. Lucy was seven. Since then, Lucy and her father have…
From the New York Times bestselling author Kwame Alexander comes Rebound, the dynamic prequel to his Newbery Award-winning novel in verse, The Crossover. Before Josh and Jordan Bell were streaking up and down the court, their father was learning his…
