Staff Picks

The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin is a beautifully written and emotionally powerful novel that captures the complexity of grief, friendship, and growing up through the eyes of a thoughtful young girl named Suzy. After the sudden death of her best friend, Suzy becomes convinced that a rare jellyfish sting might be the cause, and her journey to prove it is both scientific and deeply personal. Benjamin’s writing is lyrical and full of heart, blending fascinating facts about marine biology with a moving exploration of loss and healing. Suzy’s voice is honest, intelligent, and quietly brave, making her an unforgettable narrator. This book is a celebration of curiosity, resilience, and the quiet magic of the natural world—it’s the kind of story that stays with you long after you’ve turned the last page.

 

Publisher's description:

Twelve-year-old Suzy Swanson wades through her intense grief over the loss of her best friend by investigating the rare jellyfish she is convinced was responsible for her friend's death.

 

Four for the Road is a hilarious yet down to earth novel about Asher, a teen struggling after losing his mom to a drunk driving car crash. Having trouble coming to terms with his mother's death, Asher decides on a new goal to focus his life on--revenge. Bringing along his eclectic three friends from his bereavement group on his trip to murder his mother's killer, they all discover more about each other, themselves, and what it means to live with the grief of losing someone. K. J. Reilly brings her novel to life through both emotional and touching moments and surreal situations that make the characters and story larger than life. Not to mention, Asher’s stream-of-consciousness narrative and quirky details add a personal, human, and humorous touch to the serious subject matter. An enjoyable read for anyone, and especially those who love a story with strong personality.

 

Publisher's description:

When seventeen-year-old Asher embarks on a road trip from New Jersey to Graceland to get revenge on the drunk driver who killed his mom, he brings along three new friends from his bereavement groups.

 

Not only is this book gorgeously illustrated, it also features a touching and achingly lovely story about a little boy dealing with the grief of losing his mother. But beware! You'll probably cry!

 

Publisher's description:
This lyrical, heartfelt story a young boy who’s lost all hope braves the dark forest to ask, “Mom, were you glad you were mom?” Gorgeously illustrated, Drawn Onward gently guides readers through the depths of grief and provides comfort and hope to those who seek answers when it feels like all is lost.

Find Drawn Onward in our online catalog

Didion writes authentically about the loss of her daughter and husband, while using her signature captivating style and deadpan humor. An extremely moving and powerful read, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in self-exploration or the intricacies of human relationships.

 

Publisher's description:
"Life changes fast. You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends." These were among the first words Joan Didion wrote in January 2004. Her daughter was lying unconscious in an intensive care unit, a victim of pneumonia and septic shock. Her husband, John Gregory Dunne, was dead. The night before New Year's Eve, while they were sitting down to dinner, he suffered a massive and fatal coronary. The two had lived and worked side by side for nearly 40 years. The weeks and months that followed "cut loose any fixed idea I had about death, about illness, about probability and luck-- about marriage and children and memory-- about the shallowness of sanity, about life itself." In The Year of Magical Thinking, Didion explores with electric honesty and passion a private yet universal experience. Her portrait of a marriage-- and a life, in good times and bad-- will speak directly to anyone who has ever loved a husband, a wife, or a child.

 

This is a very practical book about how to find small moments of joy or 'microjoys' in the midst of life's sorrows. Cyndie Spiegel experienced a couple of extremely challenging losses and setbacks and was able to find hopeful moments in the midst of it all; and she shares how we can too.

 

Publisher's description: 

Bighearted and hopeful. Unflinchingly honest and healing. A profound compendium of intimate, inspiring essays and thoughtful prompts that will keep you afloat in difficult times and sustain you in the everyday. Microjoys are a practice of discerning hope and joy in each and every moment of our lives. They are accessible to all of us, at all times, if we can hone the ability to look for them. They are the hidden wisdom, subtle treasures, and ordinary delights that surround us: A polka-dot glass on a thrift store shelf. A cat that you didn't know you needed to adopt. A dear friend's kind message at just the right time. The neighborhood spice shop. A beloved family tradition. The simple quietude of being in love. A chai tea recipe. Cyndie Spiegel first began taking note of microjoys during the most difficult year of her life-when she experienced back-to-back unprecedented and devastating losses-and she found that these small moments of hope helped her move through each day with a semblance of comfort and a bit more joy. Through beautifully written narrative essays and prompts, Cyndie shares the microjoys that have kept her going through tough times and shows us how we can learn to see the microjoys in our own lives. Microjoys don't change the truth of loss or make grief any more convenient, but they allow us to momentarily touch joy, keeping us buoyed and moving forward, one step at a time.

 

Great characters. A spooky graveyard setting. Questions of sin and redemption. Historical resonance. The transcendent power of love. This book has it all. The "bardo," as some Buddhists call the transitional state between life and death, in Saunders' vision is not very different from our world: a place where people can be so blinded by their own heart's desire that they do not see what is truly good for either themselves or others. It's when they can break out of that narrow view that salvation is possible. I don't know if the "real" Abraham Lincoln was the man both great and good Saunders has created. But I want him to be, because as that he is the best example of how I should live my own small life. This is the power of literature: to give us heroes who are, always and timelessly, worthy of our emulation.

 

Publisher's description: From the seed of historical truth that is the death of President Lincoln's beloved eleven-year-old son Willie, George Saunders spins a story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its realistic, historical framework into a supernatural realm ... Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory where ghosts mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance. Within this transitional state--called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo--a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie's soul.

 

Will Bettke-Brunswick's writing and illustrations capture the complexities of human emotion and the power of memories. The book highlights the importance of acceptance and how it intersects with grief through flashbacks with their mom, and coming out as genderqueer. Touching and thought-provoking!

 

Publisher's description: 

During Will Betke-Brunswick's sophomore year of college, their beloved mother, Elizabeth, is diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. They only have ten more months together, which Will documents in evocative two-color illustrations. But as we follow Will and their mom through chemo and hospital visits, their time together is buoyed by laughter, jigsaw puzzles, modern art, and vegan BLTs. In a delightful twist, Will portrays their family as penguins, and their friends are cast as a menagerie of birds. In between therapy and bedside chats, they navigate uniquely human challenges, as Will prepares for math exams, comes out as genderqueer, and negotiates familial tension. A Pros and Cons List for Strong Feelings is an act of loving others and loving oneself, offering a story of coming-of-age, illness, death, and life that announces the arrival of a talented storyteller in Will Betke-Brunswick. At its heart, Will's story is a celebration of a mother-child relationship filled with unconditional devotion, humor, care, and openness. 

 

Is this gut-wrenching? You bet. It's like someone took you out, beat you senseless and then said, "Are you ready for more?" It's also laugh out loud hilarious and one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. Definitely read the audiobook because you'll get more out of hearing him read it.

 

Publisher description:

In 2016, Rob Delaney’s one-year-old son, Henry, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The family had moved from Los Angeles to London with their two young boys when Rob’s wife was pregnant with Henry, their third. The move was an adventure that would bind them even more tightly together as they navigated the novelty of London, the culture clashes, and the funhouse experience of Rob’s fame -- thanks to his role as co-creator and co-star of the hit series Catastrophe. Henry’s illness was a cataclysm that changed everything about their lives. Amid the hospital routine, surgeries, and brutal treatments, they found a newfound community of nurses, aides, caregivers, and fellow parents contending with the unthinkable. Two years later, Henry died, and his family watched their world fall away to reveal the things that matter most. A Heart That Works is Delaney’s intimate, unflinching, and fiercely funny exploration of what happened -- from the harrowing illness to the vivid, bodily impact of grief and the blind, furious rage that followed through to the forceful, unstoppable love that remains. In the madness of his grief, Delaney grapples with the fragile miracle of life, the mysteries of death, and the question of purpose for those left behind. Delaney’s memoir—profound, painful, full of emotion, and bracingly honest -- offers solace to those who have faced devastation and shows us how grace may appear even in the darkest times.