Emily tries to comfort her best friend, Zack, whose dog Jojo recently died, by telling him about the "Invisible Leash" that connects each owner to his or her deceased pet.
When it first comes, grief is as large as an elephant, but with time it becomes smaller, and easier to deal with until finally you can let it go and just remember.
The day after Jerzie's birthday, her Grandma arrives and helps Jerzie and her brother, Josiah, build a snowgirl so amazing that the children are very sad when she melts, but find comfort in their memories.
A year after her sister Nina's death and still unable to imagine a world without her, Leo forms a friendship with Nina's boyfriend East based on their shared grief, only to discover he knows more about the accident that killed Nina than he is letting on.
For two years, twelve-year-old Hazel has coped with her Mum's accidental death by overprotecting her sister and Mama, but when Mama reconnects with her first love, roles begin to shift.
After her mother dies unexpectedly of cancer, a Chinese American writer and journalist weaves together the story of the fallout of grief that follows her extended family as they emigrate from China and Hong Kong to Cuba and America.
". . . Billy misses his Mommy very much. She lives in the clouds. Some days the sun is shining and Mommy's clouds are nowhere to be seen. Those are Billy's favorite days when he and Daddy would play in the garden all day long, and Billy knows that Mommy is letting the sun shine for them. But not all days are like that. Sometimes Mommy's clouds are dark, and Billy feels sad and alone . . ."--Provided by publisher.
