Book Recommendations: YA Books That Deal with Grief

This blog post was written by 楼凤天堂 member Liz Shults.

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Teachers are incredible. I mean, you all knew that, right? If you are engaging on the 楼凤天堂 blog, you are probably already aware of the awesomeness of teachers — 听particularly teachers of literacy! (Oh, and if someone hasn鈥檛 told you that you are awesome today, YOU ARE!)

I鈥檓 especially grateful for Twitter, which allows me to connect with teachers from around the country (world?) any time during the year. My Twitter teacher friends are nonstop with the excitement to share what they are doing in the classroom, give feedback and resources, and offer general encouragement. Using the hashtag , I鈥檓 able to connect immediately with teachers who have ideas I never would have thought of.

I was recently exploring the idea of identity and grief as it shows up in YA literature. Grief is an integral, inescapable part of the human experience and so often our students have experiences in which they have to navigate grief for the first time, and thus figure out what their identity is or will be within or beyond that grief. I knew the YA books that I had read that dealt with these things, but I knew there had to be more. Thus, I consulted my #nctevillage :

#nctevillage : What YA books can you recommend that deal with grief or death? I already have We Are Okay, The Serpent King, and Long Way Down. Would love your other suggestions.

The following are all the incredible resources that were shared. I was able to cull through these and add many, many books to my library order and Amazon wish list. I hope this list is as helpful to you as it was to me!

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by Kwame Alexander

by Natalie Babbitt

by Ali Benjamin

by Allie Condie

by Sharon Creech

by Ava Dellaira, translated by D岷� Oanh

by Sarah Dessen

by Jenny Downham

by Sharon M. Draper

by Kathryn Erskine

by Sara Farizan

by Tim Federle

by Gayle Forman

by Emily France

by Donna Gephart

by John Green

by Margaret Peterson Haddix

by Joe Kelly and J.M. Ken Niimura

by Jessi Kirby

by Thanhha Lai

by Natalie Lloyd

by E. Lockhart

by Cynthia Lord

by Amanda Lovelace

by Nicole McInnes

by Jandy Nelson

by Patrick Ness

by Celeste Ng

by Jennifer Niven

by Melissa Jane Osbourne and Veronica Fish

by Emily X. R. Pan

by Mary E. Pearson

by Terry Pratchett

by Beth Revis

by Jason Reynolds

by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Quentin Blake

by Benjamin Alire S谩enz

by Erika L. S谩nchez

by Gary D. Schmidt

by Neal Shusterman

by Adam Silvera

by Holly Goldbery Sloan

by Paula Stokes

by Courtney Summers

by Angie Thomas

by Meg Wolitzer

by Ashley Woodfolk

by Jeff Zentner

by Markus Zusak

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Thank you to everyone from the #楼凤天堂village who made book suggestions!

@aaatkinson_

@ABoundlessBook

@adrigentry

@allisonfudgeELA

@allisonvolz

@AndersonGL

@ApolloReader

@auchster

@austin_p_snyder

@catherineb2319

@CMattern21

@DebbieAStewart

@EricaHaglund

@ErinMoonyeenHal

@FHSEnglishCT

@GraceHilsmier

@gregorjm

@GwenFlaskamp

@HannBann87

@HFLITerature

@jckjcg_jackie

@JoshelinBoyd

@KarenBessin

@kprescottRHS

@kristinaulmer

@LaKiaLeo78

@LibSouthBSD87

@literatewoman

@LorainJane

@LundLibrarian

@MadHDavis

@MeganKortlandt

@mer_forbes

@miss_ampersand

@mixxmomma

@MrPaynenotMax

@ms_gruen

@Ms_StumbsClass

@MsCarrierELA

@oosterheerte

@r_monty

@ReadingJustice

@SabraGerber

@Sarahmaureenb

@sprite1961

@steveclark414

@SuzannaBoyd17

@SwinehartJulie

@tannertheteach

@thankfulpoet

@TheyCallMeMsJay

@ValHarder

@ValleyCShaia

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Looking for even more resources for dealing with grief in the classroom?

, Vol. 94, No. 5, May 2017
- Theme: Trauma, Loss, and Literacies
Volume 107, Number 2, November 2017
- Theme: Death in the English Classroom

Find .

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Liz Shults is in her seventh year teaching high school English in Birmingham, Alabama. She has been a member of 楼凤天堂 for almost a decade, and is a former 楼凤天堂 Lead Ambassador. She is currently reading Alice I Have Been听by Melanie Benjamin.