This book list is for those of you who like a good cry now and then. Most of them are about teens coming to terms with the death of a friend or parent, or maybe their own illness. Some of them are about a tragedy they have witnessed or even caused.

Title Of Book	Author	Call Number
Saying It Out Loud	Joan Abelove	TEEN ABELOVE
Mindy's mother is dying, her father won't talk about it, and all Mindy wants is to have a second chance to tell her mother everything she never said.
Hanging on to Max	Margaret Bechard	TEEN ABELOVE
When his girlfriend decides to give their baby away, seventeen-year-old Sam is determined to keep him and raise him alone. (You may not cry all the way through, but I'll bet you'll cry at least once! I did!)
Shark Girl	Kelly Bingham	TEEN BINGHAM
After a shark attack causes the amputation of her right arm, fifteen-year-old Jane, an aspiring artist, struggles to come to terms with her loss and the changes it imposes on her day-to-day life and her plans for the future.
Tiger Eyes	Judy Blume	TEEN BLUME
Resettled in the "Bomb City" with her mother and brother, Davey Wexler recovers from the shock of her father's death during a holdup of his 7-Eleven store in Atlantic City.
Driver's Ed	Caroline Cooney	TEEN COONEY
Three teenagers' lives are changed forever when they thoughtlessly steal a stop sign from a dangerous intersection and a young mother is killed in an automobile accident there.
Walk Two Moons	Sharon Creech	TEEN PPB CREECH
After her mother leaves home suddenly, thirteen-year-old Sal and her grandparents take a car trip retracing her mother's route. Along the way, Sal recounts the story of her friend Phoebe, whose mother also left.
Say Goodnight, Gracie	Julie Reece Deaver	TEEN PPB DEAVER
When a car accident kills her best friend Jimmy, with whom she has shared everything from childhood escapades to breaking into the professional theater scene in Chicago, seventeen-year-old Morgan must find her own way of coping with his death.
Someone Like You	Sarah Dessen	TEEN DESSEN
Halley's junior year of high school includes the death of her best friend Scarlett's boyfriend, the discovery that Scarlett is pregnant, and Halley's own first serious relationship.
Mind's Eye	Paul Fleischman	TEEN FLEISCHMAN
A novel in play form in which sixteen-year-old Courtney, paralyzed in an accident, learns about the power of the mind from an elderly blind woman who takes Courtney on an imaginary journey to Italy using a 1910 guidebook.
When I Was Older	Garret Freymann-Weyr	TEEN FREYMANN-WEYR
A new friendship with a boy who is both attractive and intelligent helps fifteen-year-old Sophie sort out her feelings about her younger brother Erhard, who died three years earlier, her self-centered older sister, and her distant father. (If you enjoyed this book, you may also enjoy the author's Stay With Me.)
Death Be Not Proud	John Gunther	TEEN PPB GUNTHER
A father's account of his teenage son's courageous fight for life during the fifteen months he was dying from a brain tumor.
Ordinary People	Judith Guest	F GUEST
Conrad struggles to come to terms with his guilt and anger over the death of his older brother and his estrangement from his parents. (This book is in the adult fiction section.)
Rosey in the Present Tense	Louise Hawes	TEEN HAWES
Unable to accept the sudden death of his Japanese American girlfriend Rosey, seventeen-year-old Franklin finds that she has come back to him as a spirit and eventually realizes that he must let her go.
Out of the Dust	Karen Hesse	TEEN PPB HESSE
In a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates her struggles to deal with the death of her mother and the scars which prevent her from playing the piano, one of the few things that gave her joy during the dust bowl years of the Depression.
Circle the Soul Softly	Davida Hurwin	TEEN PPB HURWIN
Suppressed memories of childhood sexual abuse resurface, jeopardizing fifteen-year-old Kate's relationship with her new boyfriend.
A Time for Dancing	Davida Hurwin	TEEN PPB HURWIN
Seventeen-year-old best friends Samantha and Juliana tell their stories in alternating chapters after Juliana is diagnosed with cancer.
Secret Sacrament	Sherryl Jordan	TEEN JORDAN
A disturbing incident when he is only seven years old foreshadows the role Gabriel will play in the relations between his Navorran people and the Shinali, a role which is solidified when he becomes an Elected One and trains to be a Healer. (Most tearjerker books tend to be realistic fiction. This is a fantasy, but without talking animals or Harry Potter-like magic. The ending killed me!)
Stones of Mourning Creek	Diane Les Becquets	TEEN LES BECQUETS
In Alabama in the 1960's, fourteen-year-old Francie develops a controversial friendship with a colored girl her own age. When questions arise about the death of Francie's mother, the girls find out just how dangerous secrets and racism can be.
A Summer to Die	Lois Lowry	TEEN LOWRY
Thirteen-year-old Meg envys her sister's beauty and popularity. Her feelings don't make it any easier for her to cope with Molly's strange illness and eventual death.
Sold	Patricia McCormick	TEEN McCORMICK
Thirteen-year-old Lakshmi leaves her poor mountain home in Nepal thinking that she is to work in the city as a maid only to find that she has been sold into the sex slave trade in India and that there is no hope of escape.
Raina's Story	Lurlene McDaniel	TEEN McDANIEL
After sixteen-year-old Raina learns that she is a perfect match for donating bone marrow to a leukemia patient in Virginia, she discovers that the young woman is the sister she never knew she had. (All of Lurlene McDaniel's books are weepers, so look for her other books, too!)
The Girl Death Left Behind	Lurlene McDaniel	TEEN PPB McDANIEL
Numb with grief when an accident kills her entire family, fourteen-year-old Beth suddenly finds herself living with her spoiled cousin Terri and trying to make friends at a new school.
Six Months to Live	Lurlene McDaniel	TEEN PPB McDANIEL
After being diagnosed with leukemia, thirteen-year-old Dawn is delighted to find a friend to battle alongside with her, until her friend, Sandy, slips back from remission.
Swallowing Stones	Joyce McDonald	TEEN McDONALD
High school students Michael and Jenna alternate in telling their stories after Michael shoots an antique Winchester rifle and unknowingly kills Jenna's father.
Chinese Cinderella	Adeline Mah	TEEN PPB MAH
Considered bad luck after her mother dies giving birth to her, Adeline finds life hard from the beginning, but it only gets worse when her father remarries. Virtually abandoned in various boarding schools, Adeline perseveres and eventually becomes a successful doctor. (This is a shorter version of the author's biography Falling Leaves. You'll both cry and cheer for Adeline.)
Girlhearts	Norma Mazer	TEEN MAZER
Thirteen-year-old Sarabeth Silver's life is turned upside-down when her mother dies suddenly, leaving her orphaned, confused, and at the mercy of everyone who seems to know what is best for her. Sequel to Silver.
Conditions of Love	Ruth Pennebacker	TEEN PENNEBACKER
During her freshman year of high school, Sarah tries to come to terms with her questions about sex and love, changing relationship with her best friend, feelings about her mother, and new insights into her dead father whom she idolized.
I Miss You, I Miss You	Peter Pohl	TEEN POHL
Though very different, thirteen-year-old Tina Dubois and her identical twin sister, Cilla, are extremely close, and when Cilla is suddenly killed, Tina and her family struggle to come to terms with the loss.
The Burn Journals	Brent Runyon	TEEN 362.28 RUNYON
Brent Runyon was fourteen years old when he set himself on fire. In this autobiography, he describes that suicide attempt and his recovery over the following year.
The Lovely Bones	Alice Sebold	F SEBOLD
On her way home from school on a snowy December day in 1973, 14-year-old Susie Salmon is lured into a cornfield and brutally raped and murdered by her neighbor, Mr. Harvey. This unusual and ultimately healing story is told from Susie's point of view as she looks down from heaven at the effect her murder has on her family and classmates. (For older readers.)
Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie	Jordan Sonnenblick	TEEN SONNENBLICK
When his younger brother is diagnosed with leukemia, thirteen-year-old Steven tries to deal with his complicated emotions, his school life, and his desire to support his family.
Ryan White: My Own Story	Ryan White	TEEN 362.1989 WHITE
Ryan White describes how he got AIDS, engaged in a legal battle to return to school, and fought to get people to treat him like a kid, not a disease.
If You Come Softly	Jacqueline Woodson	TEEN WOODSON
After meeting at their private school in New York, fifteen-year-old Jeremiah, who is black and whose parents are separated, and Ellie, who is white and whose mother has twice abandoned her, fall in love and then try to cope with people's reactions.

Teen Home page

Updated December, 2007