As Long Way Down begins, Will Holloman is consumed with grief when his older brother Shawn is shot and killed, while shopping at a store in a rival gang's territory. Adhering to "The Rules" - don't cry, don't snitch, and always get revenge - he finds his brother's gun and leaves his family's eighth floor apartment to shoot the murderer. However, as the elevator descends, it opens at each floor and people involved in the chain of violence that took his brother's life get in. Each person - Shawn's best friend, a childhood friend caught in a drive-by shooting, his uncle who was gunned down, his father who avenged his brother's death - is actually a ghost who gives Will insight about the cycle of violence he is about to enter. This powerful novel, which uses the poetic form for dramatic effect, will stay with the reader long after the last earth-shattering line. Additional honors include Newbery Honor Book, Coretta Scott King Honor Book, Printz Honor Book, the National Book Award for YA lit long list, the Edgar Award Winner and others.
How to Make Friends with the Dark introduces Tiger Tolliver, whose loving but overprotective single mother shields her from life. She decides to take a stand when her crush asks her to a school dance. On the way to school she mentions the dance and her mother withholds her permission and hounds Tiger all day at school, blowing up her phone with calls and texts. After ignoring her all day, Tiger finally answers the phone and says, "Why can't you f***ing leave me alone?" Later that day, she is at the park, experiencing her first kiss, when her mother drops dead of an aneurysm. Wracked with guilt, Tiger is thrown into Arizona's foster home system, where she is confronted with the harsh realities of many orphan's lives. Although her best friend Cake and her parents are willing to take her in, Tiger ends up with her 20-year-old half-sister, whom she hadn't previously met. Tiger's mom left behind many unpaid bills and her "Jellymobile" business, which the girls resurrect. Needless-to-say the sister is a less than ideal parent. The trauma and grieving process are explored in effective second person reflections on Tiger's inner turmoil: "You'll look alive on the outside, but be dead on the inside."
In How the Light Gets In Callie Ryan is still struggling with guilt and grief a year after her sister Chloe drowned. Callie, gives up swim team, academics and her dreams for the future and spends most of her time smoking pot. As summer nears, her parents give her the choice of going to grief camp or to her aunt's Victorian B&B renovation, where Chloe died. When Callie arrives at the house, strange things begin to happen, giving her the feeling that Chloe is trying to communicate with her. Although she tries to resist his charms, the landscaper Tucker Morgan breaks through her defensive attitude and helps her come to terms with her part in Chloe's death. He, too, has unresolved issues with his mother's disappearance, which is tied to the history of the house. Together, they embark upon a journey of healing and a future together.
The Art of Taxidermy, an Australian award-winning novel-in-verse, explores a German-Australian's girl's grieving process, as she mourns the death of her mother and sister, as well as her family's internment during WWII. After Lottie's older sister drowns and her mother dies during stillbirth, Lottie becomes obsessed with taxidermy, which she views as an attempt at resurrection. She begins collecting bodies of dead creatures and gutting them, which horrifies her Aunt Hilda, who is helping her dad raise Lottie. Her only friend is an Indigenous boy who bonds with her over their shared loneliness. He helps her with her collection and moving toward her dream of becoming a museum taxidermist.
