Shares a story about Ella, a young girl who struggles with her sadness after her beloved great grandmother dies, and provides information about death, grieving, what to expect at a funeral, and how to deal with worries about death.
During the ceremony of First Salmon, an event celebrated by the Northwest Pacific tribes to honor and welcome back the salmon each year, Charlie remembers his beloved uncle and starts the process of accepting his death.
Eight-year-old Benjamin remembers his friend Dusty, who was killed in a car accident, and tries to understand his own feelings about losing a friend in this way.
After her mother leaves home suddenly, thirteen-year-old Sal and her grandparents take a car trip retracing her mother's route. Along the way, Sal recounts the story of her friend Phoebe, whose mother also left.
After the death of the beloved aunt who has raised her, twelve-year-old Summer and her uncle Ob leave their West Virginia trailer in search of the strength to go on living.
When she goes to live with her aunt in a small Michigan town, Mary Brooke discovers a secret room that becomes her refuge as she tries to cope with all the changes in her life brought about by her mother's death.