"Told from different viewpoints, five eighth-graders who have challenges at home and at school also experience a sad loss as a group and welcome a new addition to their extended family"--

Farmer Evan and his dog do everything together and, especially, in the garden but when his dog passes away Evan lets his garden fill with weeds until a pumpkin vine brings new hope.

Alberto, the town's coffin maker, and Tito, a runaway boy, both lonely after suffering tragic losses, learn the power of friendship as they try to escape the shadows of their pasts.

Soon after her beloved grandmother's death, Trisha's family moves to a diverse California neighborhood where she meets Stewart and his grandmother, Miss Eula, who brings people together to help a grieving neighbor.

When nine-year-old Eleanor's beloved babysitter Bibi moves away to care for her ailing father, Eleanor must spend the summer adjusting to a new babysitter while mourning the loss of her old one.

Lily is moving into her grandmother's farm in Iowa, and she is sad about all the changes necessary in her life--but on the long drive her grandmother challenges her to find ten beautiful things that they can share together.

"Sixteen-year-old Biz sees her father every day, though he died when she was seven, but when Biz's almost-normal life turns upside-down and her father disappears again, she tumbles into a disaster-land of grief and depression from which she must find her way back"--

Emily tries to comfort her best friend, Zack, whose dog Jojo recently died, by telling him about the "Invisible Leash" that connects each owner to his or her deceased pet.

France sends the Merci Train to the United States to thank America for helping France during and after WWII, and one of the train stops will be the small town of Gladiola, Texas, where ten-year-old Glory Bea hopes for the greatest miracle--that her missing-in-action father will be on the train.

Simple, rhyming text, offers comfort that even though our loved ones are gone, we will reunite with them again on the other side.