Jeremy is not having a good summer. His best friends have moved away, and he has to stay at the cottage with only his little sister and Aunt Margery. His parents have remained in the city so his father can have an operation.

When Jeremy finally sees him again, he finds out that his father has cancer and isn't going to get better. Suddenly, everything is different. Then Jeremy finds an unlikely friend in Tess, who knows what it's like to lose someone. As his friendship with her grows, through good times and bad, Jeremy discovers that his father has left him something that will live forever...

From School Library Journal
Grade 5-7 Jeremy's parents are in the city while he and his little sister go to their cottage at the lake with their aunt; there are strange whispered phone calls between his aunt and his mom; and there's a sadness about everything that puzzles and disturbs Jeremy. It is not until his mom and dad finally come up to the lake that his mother has the courage to tell him that his father is dying of cancer. There is time, just about, for Jeremy and his father to be alone together before the end comestime enough for them to give each other one last gift: Jeremy's is a special good luck token; his dad's to him is a special new frienda young girl whom his teacher father has befriended. It is this very special girl, whose own tragedies have left her strong and compassionate and able to bear her eccentricities with self-confidence, who enables Jeremy to bear the burden of his own sadness as well as that of his mother and sister. The overtures of friends and teachers and the discomfort of grief is borne because of Tess' help and her admiration for his father. Simply told in straightforward prose, the complexities are made comprehensible without diminishing their depth. Both boys and girls will appreciate this novel. It can also open up a discussion of death and dying, comfort, friendship and bereavement at an appropriate level. Marjorie Lewis, Scarsdale Junior High School, N.Y.




bookel (Australia) (2011/06/05):
Jeremy must cope with his own grief and also that of his mother and sister when his father dies of cancer.