Pax, Journey Home
A devastatingly good companion to the first book that treats animal grief with rare sophistication; expect tears from both kid and parent.
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Hurry Home, Candy
by Meindert De Jong
Middle grade · ages 8–12 · 720L · 1971
A quiet, genuinely moving dog-finds-her-way story that treats loss and belonging seriously without melodrama—De Jong's prose is spare and observant, and it sticks with kids who've felt displaced or homeless themselves.
Pictures of Hollis Woods
by Patricia Reilly Giff
Middle grade · ages 8–12 · 750L · 2002
A quiet, unflinching portrait of foster-care experience that doesn't sentimentalize; Hollis's voice and her drawings carry the emotional weight of a child learning to trust again.
Rainbow Jordan
by Alice Childress
Middle grade · ages 10–14 · 750L · 1999
A quietly powerful debut about a girl waiting for her mother who never shows up—Childress writes with unflinching tenderness about what kids actually do when adults disappoint them.