10 Young Adult Books About Grief
Some of the best books I’ve read dealing with the complexities of grief and mental health have not been written for an audience of mature adults ready to soak up every word. Indeed, to me, there is no better selection of books about grief than those written and marketed to the young adult (YA) literature crowd.
Although on paper, the YA genre is catered towards readers between the ages of 12 and 18—and they, no doubt, provide safe spaces to work out complex issues for kids that fall within that age range—they’re also great to read them well into your 20s or 30s. Sure, you might relate less to the experiences of teenagers and young adults once you’re past the period of emerging adulthood—but even as mental health becomes less stigmatized with each passing year, it’s still difficult to find decent books dealing with concepts like grief written for adults. They no doubt exist, but there’s nothing like a young adult novel to remind you of what it’s like to feel too much, whether in the face of tragedy or just simply in everyday life, and those themes do not have an age range.
Thus, I’ve compiled this list of YA titles that handle grief exceptionally well. There is a full spectrum of grieving experiences within these novels, whether it’s the death of a loved one and the complicated web of emotions those events bring, or simply grieving the person and people we used to be.
When You Call My Name by Tucker Shaw
When 17-year-old film enthusiast Adam is asked out on his first date, he doesn’t expect to fall as hard as he does for Callum, who is whole new levels of cute. Meanwhile, 18-year-old fashion fanatic Ben has just left his small upstate town for New York City, leaving behind a mother who just discovered his collection of gay magazines. In the city, Ben’s sexuality suddenly feels more like an asset than something to be ashamed of. When Callum suddenly disappears, leaving Adam devastated, he soon comes to learn that his new companion is sick with an illness no one wants to face. When Adam’s and Ben’s paths unexpectedly cross at the hospital, they both begin to learn in their own ways the sacrifices queer people must make to become themselves and how loss is no match for the power of solidarity.
The Silence That Binds Us by Joanna Ho
Maybelline “May” Chen rarely feels good enough for the high standards of her Chinese and Taiwanese parents. She dreams of being a writer and doesn’t dress girly enough for her mother. Her brother Danny, however, is the apple of their parents’ eyes, and everyone is most proud of him for the academic achievements that got him admitted to Princeton University. But everything changes quickly and starkly when Danny’s private battle with depression leads him to take his own life. In the face of the family’s grief, May’s parents find themselves grappling with racist accusations at the hands of other white parents, who believe Danny’s death is a result of his parents pressuring him too much. As May tries to grieve her brother and get through the school year, she comes to realize that she has the chance to reclaim her family’s narrative through her own words. Because when grief tries to get the better of us, sometimes our words are all we have left.
Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira
When Laurel receives an assignment in her English class to write a letter to a dead person, she chooses Kurt Cobain. Her sister May loved him, and since they both died young, Laurel figures she can better understand her sister through her letters. What was initially just an English assignment becomes a journal full of love letters to the likes of Amelia Earhart, Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin, and Heath Ledger—and she never ends up giving one of them to her teacher. As Laurel charts the course for her own way through her grief, she finds more comfort in writing letters to dead people about her family falling apart, pressures at school, first love, and new friendships than she does in talking to any living person in her life. It’s only through these letters that Laurel will learn how to confront what happened to her, forgive herself for May’s death, and embrace the rest of her life that lies in front of her.
How to Live Without You by Sarah Everett
Seventeen-year-old Emmy hasn’t felt like herself since her sister and trusted confidante, Rose, disappeared without a trace. Everyone in her life remains convinced that Rose merely ran away and will come back when she’s good and ready, but Emmy doesn’t share the same view. The Rose she loved was big-hearted and strong-willed, and Emmy can’t believe that she would run away and not tell her where she was going. So she returns to their hometown in Ohio for the summer, hoping to find some clues as to Rose’s whereabouts. Instead, Emmy uncovers years of deceit and betrayal and finds herself at odds with the sister she knew. So Emmy does the impossible and decides to, with the help of their childhood best friend, step into her sister’s shoes, retracing Rose’s last known location. The end results are devastating as much as they are revelatory, leaving Emmy to question her place in the world.
History is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera
Griffin is still reeling from the loss of his ex-boyfriend Theo in a horrific drowning incident and isn’t quite sure how to pick up the pieces of his life. While Theo and Griffin had broken up before he died and Theo had moved across the country to California for school and started dating Jackson, Griffin still held his ex-boyfriend close to his heart—holding out hope that Theo would one day return to him. With those hopes and dreams shattered, Griffin isn’t sure where to go next. What he never would have expected was finding a sympathetic shoulder from Jackson, who happens to know what Griffin is going through. But Griffin has secrets of his own, which plunge deeper into his self-destructive behavior and obsessive compulsions, all of which he must face if he’s ever going to move on with his life. He realizes the only way to move forward is to look back and make peace with the past.
The Beauty That Remains by Ashley Woodfolk
What do you do when it feels like you’ve lost everything? You find yourself. Autumn, Shay, and Logan are all bound together by music and friendship. But when loss affects each of them in its own way, they must learn to grieve the past and face the future. Autumn always knew she was destined to be a talented artist while also being known for her loyal attributes. Shay only knew herself through her relationship and love for music and her twin sister, Sasha. Logan managed to become a gifted songwriter after learning to channel his angst for life into music. But ever since they each come to know what it feels like to lose, music is somehow not enough to tie them together anymore. Autumn, Shay, and Logan suddenly feel like shells of their former selves. But then one band’s music starts to unite them again. Is the power of music and art enough to teach them that there is still a life left to live after grief and loss?
Optimists Die First by Susin Nielsen
Sixteen-year-old Petula De Wilde used to have a rich inner life and a thriving artistic side. But a recent family tragedy has stolen her zest for life, making her full of fear from the moment she wakes until the minute her head hits the pillow again. She sees the danger in everything now, whereas she used to focus on the beauty in life. She can’t even bear to get through her mandatory art therapy classes, which are incredibly lame and filled with a cast of teenage misfits with whom she thinks she has nothing in common. But they are about to learn that they are all shouldering the same burden. When the seemingly normal Jacob joins their group, Petula wants nothing more than to keep to herself. But when the class is forced to unite to work on a group project, Jacob might have a thing or two to teach Petula about moving on from her cloud of grief and facing her fears in the real world. But will hidden secrets ruin everything?
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness & Siobhan Dowd
Ever since his mother got sick, Conor has had the same dream every single night, at seven minutes past midnight. And it certainly doesn’t go away once he learns that her treatments don’t seem to be working. But all that changes one night when a visitor appears at his bedroom window. It’s an inexplicable force of nature and that takes Conor by force from his bed and into a world of shadows that has as much to teach him as he has to teach it. This unusual monster wants something unusual from Conor. He wants the one thing that the boy doesn’t want to face: the truth.
Early Departures by Justin A. Reynolds
Jamal hasn’t been the same ever since his best friend Q died, again. His grief over his parents’ death in a car accident overtook every part of his being, and he blamed Q for his role in the incident. Jamal and Q weren’t even friends for two years after that, so Q couldn’t know that Jamal tried to save him from drowning, only to have him die in the hospital later that day. But Jamal is about to be blessed with a special kind of second chance he never would have imagined. With the help of a new healthcare technology, Q suddenly becomes reembodied, the same old best friend brought back to life, good as new. But Jamal won’t have forever with him, just a short period of time before he dies again, for good. The trouble is Q has no idea that he’s dead, or why Jamal suddenly wants to be his friend again. Against all odds, Jamal must wade through his own grief to repair his relationship with his best friend before time runs out, forever.
A List of Cages by Robin Roe
When Adam Blake becomes an aide to the school psychologist in his senior year of high school, he sees it as the perfect opportunity to slack off and text his friends. But when he’s tasked with tracking down an anxious freshman who keeps missing his appointments with the doctor, Adam never could have imagined the student in question would be Julian, his former foster brother with whom he was separated five years ago. Julian, an artistic and kind-hearted boy who has always been and acted small for his age, is mostly the same kid Adam remembers taking into his home after the untimely death of Julian’s parents. But something seems gravely wrong, and Adam can’t shake it, or let himself lose his brother for a second time. When he begins looking into the secrets Julian has been keeping about his home life, the outcome might become deadly for both of them.
What are some of your favorite YA books about grief?
