Books for Tough Times: Illness

What is the response when a child points out that a disabled child or adult looks 'different'? Shriver tells the story of Kate, who finds that making friends with a mentally retarded boy helps her learn that the two of them have a lot in common.

"Introduces readers to meningitis, including causes, symptoms, treatments, and the personal experience"--

How do you know if you are allergic to something? What kinds of things are people allergic to? What happens when a person has an allergic reaction? This book examines a broad range of allergies, including hay fever, rhinitis, food allergies, skin allergies, and allergies to chemicals or insect stings. Read about the causes of allergies and the current medications available.

This book introduces readers to what HIV/AIDS are, how they affect people, and what they can do to be a good friend to someone living with HIV/AIDS.

Kids who have a parent with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can often feel confused, scared, or helpless. Why Are You So Scared? explains PTSD and its symptoms in nonthreatening, kid-friendly language, and is full of questions and exercises that kids and parents can work through together. The workbook-style layout encourages kids to express their thoughts and emotions about PTSD through writing, drawing, and designing.

When Chia Martin was diagnosed with cancer, she found her daughter Carrie's artwork a catalyst to their communication. This beautiful, heart-warming book features Carrie's art and writing about the emotions evoked by her mother's illness. Describing her own fears, difficulties and hopes, Carrie doesn't tell her readers what to feel; rather, she gently invites them into her world, offering them an opportunity to speak, draw, or consider their own feelings. Children need to share their feelings and ask questions, especially in stressful times -- and this book subtly and warmly encourages conversation between children and those who love them.

The sensitively written " Let's Talk About It Books " encourage preschool-age and early-grades children to explore their feelings, deal with problems that trouble them, and understand others who have problems of their own. Each title speaks to a particular concern that children might encounter in the course of growing up. All books in this series have appealing color illustrations on every page, and are available in both English and Spanish language editions. A short section at the back of each book offers related advice to parents. This book points out that a diagnosis that Mom has cancer is as frightening for her children as it is for her.

A question scritches and scratches at the back of Emma's throat. Emma is a curious kid. She loves to ask questions; and she loves the silly answers that her grandmother always gives. But now Emma has a very important question, one that she is bursting to ask, one that scritches and scratches at the back of her throat. Her grandmother is sick and has to stay in the hospital. Emma wonders if Grandma will still be able to read to her kindergarten; if she will still make up funny stories over bagels on Wednesdays; if she will still be able to watch her after school. But mostly Emma wonders if Grandma is going to die.

Camille and her grandma have a special friendship. They have sleepovers, bake chocolate cupcakes together, go out shopping, and giggle at old photographs. But one day Grandma forgets Camille's name. Then she can't remember where to put her shoes.Camille learns that her grandma is sick, but "not the kind where you cough and blow your nose." Grandma has Alzheimer's disease, which is what makes her do strange things. And even though Grandma has to move out of her house and rely on nurses to care for her, Camille finds a way to continue their special traditions.With charming, sensitive illustrations, this story gently introduces young readers to the realities of Alzheimer's disease, and reminds them that love is more powerful than any illness can be.

"Young readers are given an emotionally powerful yet accessible introduction to what it is like having a close family member with Alzheimer's disease in this deeply resonant story about the relationship between a girl and her grandmother. Grandma's whole family is concerned as they start to notice that she is becoming more and more forgetful. After they find her wandering the neighborhood, they need to make an important decision on her behalf that the time has come for her to move out of her house and into an assisted living community where she can have the best care possible."

The day the First World War broke out, Alfie Summerfield's father promised he wouldn't go away to fight--but he broke that promise the following day. Four years later, Alfie doesn't know where his father might be, other than that he's away on a special, secret mission. Then, while shining shoes at King's Cross Station, Alfie unexpectedly sees his father's name on a sheaf of papers belonging to a military doctor. Bewildered and confused, Alfie realizes his father is in a hospital close by--a hospital treating soldiers with shell shock. Alfie isn't sure what shell shock is, but he is determined to rescue his father from this strange, unnerving place. . .

If they saved the swan together, could she then save her friend? In a heartbeat, in a wingbeat, it happens. Isla's father falls. They're racing across the fields, following the swans flying in to winter at the lake like they do every year, when something goes wrong. And before she can even catch her breath, they're in the back of an ambulance, she's holding his hand. At the hospital, upset and scared, Isla meets Harry. Unlike the boys at school, he doesn't laugh when she tells him about her love of birds. He listens. But what is he doing there? As Isla struggles with her father's frailty and the new feelings she has for Harry, she's determined to help the only way she knows how. Outside the hospital windows, Isla watches a lone whooper swan struggling to fly. If only she could save the lost bird, would that somehow heal her dad, and cure Harry, and make everything good again?

Along a lively river, in a village raised on stilts, lives a girl named Luna. All her life she has heard tales of the time before the dam appeared, when sprites danced in the currents and no one got the mysterious wasting illness from a mouthful of river water. These are just stories, though no sensible person would believe in such things. Beneath the waves is someone who might disagree. Perdita is a young water sprite, delighting in the wet splash and sparkle, and sad about the day her people will finally finish building their door to another world, in search of a place that humans have not yet discovered. But when Luna's little sister falls ill with the river sickness, everyone knows she has only three weeks to live. Luna is determined to find a cure for her beloved sister, no matter what it takes. Even if that means believing in magic.

Love can be a trouble word for some people. Crazy is also a trouble word. I should know. You've never met anyone exactly like twelve-year-old Sarah Nelson. While most of her friends obsess over Harry Potter, she spends her time writing letters to Atticus Finch. She collects trouble words in her diary. Her best friend is a plant. And she's never known her mother, who left when Sarah was two. Since then, Sarah and her dad have moved from one small Texas town to another, and not one has felt like home. Everything changes when Sarah launches an investigation into her family's Big Secret.

Silly is used to feeling left out. Her three older sisters think she's too little for most things; especially when it comes to dealing with their mother's unpredictable moods and outbursts. This summer, Silly feels more alone than ever when her sisters keep whispering and sneaking away to their rooms together, returning with signs that something mysterious is afoot: sporting sunburned cheeks smudged with glitter and gold hair that looks like tinsel. When Silly is brought into her sisters' world, the truth is more exciting than she ever imagined. The sisters have discovered a magical place that gives them what they truly need: an escape from the complications of their home life. But there are dark truths there, too. Silly hopes the magic will be the secret to saving their family, but she's soon forced to wonder if it could tear them apart.

It's the year 1900, the dawn of a new century and a chance for a new beginning for Verna and Carlie, whose mother died two years ago. They are headed to their new home; the grounds of an asylum for the mentally ill. Their father, a doctor, has been hired to treat its patients while the girls are under the strict and watchful eye of their aunt Maude. The towering asylum, the murmuring patients with their tormented pasts, the exquisite locked garden at the center of the grounds; Verna perceives forbidden mystery and enchantment everywhere. Even Aunt Maude's temper will not keep her from striking out on her own exciting adventures. But is Verna ready to confront all the secrets and emotions that have been locked within; even those of her own heart?