Grief and a ghost both haunt Lily (white), 11, in the months after her twin brother Anders’ death from cancer. Lily has yet to really cry, while her mom cries all the time and can’t seem to pick up the pieces of their lives. Lily is doing her best for them both while harboring a secret: Anders has come back. She regularly meets him in a space behind the barn he describes as the “overlap,” where his existence after death and hers in life can coexist. He doesn’t automatically appear; sometimes she waits. And now, in the summer after fifth grade, she waits more and more often, while the boundaries of the overlap are shrinking. Anders has a theory: The overlap will last seven-and-a-half months, the amount of time they spent together in the womb. He encourages Lily to spend more time with other people, but their family is relatively new to their small Maine town where belonging is marked by generations. Still, the neighbors have been incredibly kind, especially teenage Quinn, who begins regularly dropping by and inviting Lily to do things. Lily’s burgeoning friendship with Quinn has its rocky moments, and it takes time to ease the struggle for Lily and her mom to regain their equilibrium as a family, but these elements only add to the authenticity and appeal of an accomplished story in which the use of magical realism beautifully underscores the ways its wonderfully drawn characters are so very human. (Ages 9-12)

A moving middle grade story by Anica Mrose Rissi that will appeal to readers who loved The Thing about Jellyfish and Hello, Universe, about the enduring bond between twins: Anders, who has recently died, and Lily, who has to balance her grief and confusion with a brother who isn’t quite gone—and how to navigate a world that is moving forward without him.

Of course Anders wasn’t lonely in the afterlife. He still, like always, had Lily.

Lily doesn’t believe in making wishes. Not anymore. Not since Anders died.

Wishes can’t fix the terrible thing that happened. Wishing won’t change how it feels.

But Lily does believe in the impossible. She has a secret so extraordinary, so magical, no one would believe that it’s true.

No one except Anders, of course.

Nothing about this summer is turning out how Lily would have wished. But wishes, like seasons, can change.