Twelve-year-old Fern is the third of four children. Her older sister, Sarah, is taking a year off between high school and college to work at the family’s restaurant. Her older brother, Holden, is just starting high school and coming out to his family. Her younger brother Charlie, age three, is exceedingly cute and spoiled rotten. Fern’s parents run a second-generation family restaurant, Harry’s, something of an institution in town. Her work-consumed father is always trying to increase business while her mother balances the restaurant with holding things together at home. As Fern starts middle school, Holden makes her promise to sit up front on the bus. She does, only to discover he’s trying to shield her from the terrible bullying he endures in the back. Readers get to know individual characters and the dynamics of this family—loving, rancorous, harried; in short, typical—before everything’s disrupted. Tragedy strikes—unexpected and devastating—and in the aftermath, Fern is both grief-stricken and numb. She’s also filled with guilt, blaming herself for what happened. Her mother retreats into depression; her father and older sister step up, trying to parent and provide support while dealing with their own pain and guilt; and Holden absents himself as much as possible from the family. Author Jo Knowles beautifully reveals the weight of grief and the distance back to solid ground that can bear it in this affecting novel that skillfully integrates a teen coming out into a larger story about things that matter most. (Ages 11–14)

Starting middle school brings all the usual challenges — until the unthinkable happens, and Fern and her family must find a way to heal.

Twelve-year-old Fern feels invisible. It seems as though everyone in her family has better things to do than pay attention to her: Mom (when she’s not meditating) helps Dad run the family restaurant; Sarah is taking a gap year after high school; and Holden pretends that Mom and Dad and everyone else doesn’t know he’s gay, even as he fends off bullies at school. Then there’s Charlie: three years old, a “surprise” baby, the center of everyone’s world. He’s devoted to Fern, but he’s annoying, too, always getting his way, always dirty, always commanding attention. If it wasn’t for Ran, Fern’s calm and positive best friend, there’d be nowhere to turn. Ran’s mantra, “All will be well,” is soothing in a way that nothing else seems to be. And when Ran says it, Fern can almost believe it’s true. But then tragedy strikes- and Fern feels not only more alone than ever, but also responsible for the accident that has wrenched her family apart. All will not be well. Or at least all will never be the same.