Beach days with Uncle Mike always bring something unexpected, like a shiny shell that turns out to be a hermit crab. But Uncle Mike has cancer. Not every surprise is a good one anymore. Soon Uncle Mik
Beach days with Uncle Mike always bring something unexpected, like a shiny shell that turns out to be a hermit crab. But Uncle Mike has cancer. Not every surprise is a good one anymore. Soon Uncle Mike starts spending more and more time at the hospital, and the grown-ups start saying “we don’t know” over and over. One day Mom says Uncle Mike is gone. Gone where? What place could be better than his house on the beach? How could he leave without saying goodbye?
This gentle, evocatively illustrated story addresses illness and loss from a child’s perspective. Though grief, confusion, and anger can be overwhelming, we can find ways to move forward with the memory of our loved ones.
Pam Zollman is a children's fiction and nonfiction author.
Don't Bug Me! (Holiday House), her debut, was named a Bank Street College Best Book of the Year and was nominated for Florida's Sunshine State Young Readers Award. She lives in South Carolina.
Frances Ives studied illustration at the Cambridge School of Art. Her debut
Maybe the Moon (LOM Art) was the winner of the LOM Art Prize and was longlisted for the Klaus Flugge Prize. She lives in England. Visit her website at
francesives.com or follow her on Instagram @francesives.
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