by Julie Lawson Timmer (2014)
Mara Nichols, a terminally ill career woman, wife, and mother, and Scott Coffman, a middle-school teacher whose eight-year-old foster son is about to return to his former inmate mother, traverse the last five days they have to say goodbye to their loved ones.
Hannah Roberts McKinnon
When her older sister, Marni, is paralyzed jumping off the cliffs into the lake near their house, twelve-year-old Lace feels responsible for the accident and struggles to find a way to help heal her family.
Per Petterson
"[A] tale of two men whose accidental meeting one morning recalls their boyhood thirty-five years ago. Back then, Tommy was separated from his sisters after he stood up to their abusive father. Jim was by Tommy's side through it all. But one winter night, a chance event on a frozen lake forever changes the balance of their friendship. Now, Jim fishes alone on a bridge as Tommy drives by in a new Mercedes, and it's clear their fortunes have reversed. Over the course of the day, the lives of each man will be irrevocably altered"--
Jenny Offill
"Grace's father believes in science and builds his daughter a dollhouse with lights that really work. Grace's mother takes her skinny-dipping in the lake and teaches her about African hyena men who devour their wives in their sleep. Grace's world, of fact and fiction, marvels and madness, is slowly unraveling because her family is coming apart before her eyes. Now eight-year-old Grace must choose between her two very different, very flawed parents, a choice that will take her on a dizzying journey, away from her home in Vermont to the boozy, flooded streets of New Orleans--and into the equally wondrous and frightening realm of her own imagination. With eloquence and compassion, Jenny Offill weaves a luminous story of a wounded family and of a young girl yearning to understand the difference between fiction, fact, and hope. A novel of vibrant imagination and searing intelligence, Last Things is a stunning literary achievement"-- "To eight-year-old Grace Davitt, the world is full of strange wonders. Through the eyes of her mother, Anna--an ornithologist who speaks five languages--their small lakeside town in Vermont becomes a glittering mystery filled with secret tongues, monsters in the lake, and birthday parties for the Earth. Anna's untamed spirit stands in sharp contrast to Grace's father, a chemistry teacher who examines his surroundings through the lens of rationalism and order. As Grace's family begins to fall apart and she finds that she must choose between her parents, her conflicting loyalties take her on a remarkable journey that spans all corners of the country--and of her own boundless imagination"--
Betsy Byars
Disasters befall the Blossom family as Pap falls into a dumpster and can't get out, Junior tries desperately to make a success of his secret invention, and Vern dreads letting a new friend meet his unusual family.