by Alan Silberberg
ages: 10+
First sentence: “Summer Goodman never knew what hit her.”
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This is not your average mom-is-dead book. Sure, Milo’s mom is dead; she passed away from cancer a couple years ago. But, Milo, now eleven and in his fifth house starting another new school, is determined to push past the fog and make a halfway decent go this time.

It’s not a deep book, plot-wise; it’s basically the tale of Milo putting one foot in front of the other. Sometimes he succeeds: he really likes his new best friend, Marshall; grateful for the fact that they can just hang out and drink Freezies, and that Marshall doesn’t really push or demand much. Sometimes he fails: his other neighbor, Hillary, tries to befriend Milo, but he’s so caught up in having a total and complete crush on Summer that he doesn’t notice Hillary (not in a romantic way) until it’s nearly too late. Underneath it all, though, is the pain of loss. He misses having his mother around, especially the little things.

Instead of just wallowing in the loss (well, they did that already; this book is about learning to move on), he not only figures out a way to mourn his mother, but to help his family understand and accept the loss that they all went through. And it’s done with humor, love, and some good friends. (The ending even made me cry; not the sad kind of cry, either.)

Very touching and sweet.

(Just for the record: because this is a Cybils nominee, I’ve been asked to make sure y’all know this is my opinion only, and not that of the panel.)