The Color of Absence: 12 Stories About Loss and Hope

Atomic Blue Pieces by Angela Johnson - This is a good one about a boy who's missing his brother.

Enchanted Night by James Howe - In this story a teenage girl is dumped by her boyfriend, and she think this is the worst thing that's happened to her until her father is suddenly killed a week later. The story is about her dealing with the aftermath, told partially through flashbacks and dreams. I didn't completely sink into the world of the story, but I liked it.

Mariah is a young lady who loved her father and made it clear through memories of him after his death. His death came very shortly after a breakup with her boyfriend Danny, obviously leading to a extremely hard time in a young person's life. She replayed moments of her life with her father again and again and felt as though it was time to hang up her one true passion, the violin. She did many things with her father, all of which he had a knack for, but after a horrible "dream" of him being wonderful at the violin as well, she lost it. She just wanted one thing that was hers, that she "couldn't take from her". He ensured her that he was no good at the violin and it was all hers. After his death she went through his closet to smell him show more again and came across a violin case. She later asked her mother about it and her mother told her that her father hid his knack for the violin from her because he didn't want to take another thing from her. Mariah felt as though she had to play again, if not her, for him. In the end of the story she found her way back to Danny and her way back to the violin, for her father. show less

This is a collection of stories about loss and the many different forms that it can take. Some of the stories were very sad and actually made me cry when I read them, but all of the stories rang true to the different losses that people go through and how they feel. At the end of each story, there is a small explanation by the author about how they came up with the idea for the story or what it means to them. This would be a great book for young adults to really illustrate this aspect of human existence.

Contains the short story "The Summer of Love" by Annette Curtis Klause, a prequel to her novel The Silver Kiss.

Contains the short story "The Summer of Love" by Annette Curtis Klause, a prequel to her novel The Silver Kiss.