Teens Dealing with Death

         Coping with the death of a friend or loved one is not easy for people of any age. For children and young adults the experience may impact who they become as adults.  Reading about how the main characters deal with death in their lives may inform the readers about coping mechanisms and support systems that enable the young person to move on from the devastating experience.  Lying About Last Summer by Sue Wallman focuses on Skye who is attending a camp for grieving teens after the death of her sister. In You, Me, and Infinity by Deb Caletti Margaret is making a golden record which records elements of her relationship with her deceased boyfriend. Addy, the main character in Light Me Up by Katie Karambelas, must deal not only with her mother's death, but also her father moving the family to his home town, leaving behind Addy's boyfriend Nate with whom she is planning a future. 

Lying About Last Summer deals with the death of a sibling.  After her sister dies in a tragic accident in the family pool, Skye’s parents send her to a camp for grieving teens, while they continue to deal with her brother’s heart issues. Skye, who was a competitive swimmer, now doesn’t want to go near a pool or the lake. When she starts getting mysterious texts from her supposably dead sister, Skye must determine who might be sending them.  At camp she deals with her roommates’ issues, as well as interest from two of the guys at camp. Although the book is advertised as a mystery thriller, the focus on grieving is a much stronger element than who is sending the texts. 

You, Me and Infinity focuses on the death of a boyfriend. When Margaret sees Mars for the first time, she feels like they were destined to be together. Her job delivering pizzas for her family’s pizza restaurant brings her to his doorstep. Soon they are stargazing and she is beginning to understand Mars’s passionate interest in the Voyager space capsule’s golden record which preserves elements of humanity indefinitely in space. But when the unthinkable happens, she must carry on without him. She decides to make her own golden record to send a message to him that her love is infinite.

Light Me Up not only explores the death of a parent, but also the main character's plans for the future.  When Addy’s mom dies, and her dad moves the family back to his hometown, she struggles to find a new identity.  She was with the same boy, Nate, since middle school, and they were planning a future together.  But when she gets a job at the town’s “chocolate” amusement park, she develops a whole new circle of friends, including Asher who makes her rethink her future plans with Nate.