Books about grief and loss for teens

In a world where everything has to be blue, what happens if you like yellow? A joyous celebration of being individual.

A beautifully written story about grief, mental illness, family, friendship, empathy and love.

Written in verse, Long Way Down is breathtakingly gripping and spectacular. You almost read it without breathing; the action is so tense, the language so powerful. Give it to every teenager you know!

Louie and his dad are almost killed by a tsunami during a trip to the strange, desolate Endlands, and his dad chooses to stay and help the people devastated by the disaster. An absolutely masterful tale: a futuristic ghost story about loss, love and grief. 

A beautifully told, outstanding and thought-provoking novel. Themes of race and the treatment of Aboriginal peoples interweave with those of grief and letting go, but without ever becoming overbearing, with the focus on the town’s mystery. 

In Joseph Coelho’s story told in poems, the ancient Greek myth of Daphne and Apollo is seamlessly woven into the modern-day tale of a 14 year old girl who becomes lost in the tangled woods of her grief and anger .

When Matt’s mum tragically dies from cancer, it feels like all the joy is sucked out of his life. Then he meets a girl called Love. This is a profoundly beautiful, open-hearted, funny, tear-jerking, readable and relatable story, which explores grief in the truest sense.