The Shoe that Didn't Drop

I suppose I've read too many YA novels. Teen angst. Murder. Betrayal. Lies. Or maybe I've been watching too much TV. Yesterday I finished Secret Sisters of the Salty Sea by Lynne Rae Perkins. Not that Perkins is known for stories with tragic events, but in her latest, there's the ocean and a warning to not go out too far. (The girls are safely recovered.) There's an opportunity for two sisters to become enemies, each one jealous of the other. Yet by the end of the book, they are closer than ever. The parents are present--and smart, and funny, and love each other. So why then, was I so worried?

THE COVER IS BLUE! 

For those of you who've been following me for a while, you know my theory: books with blue covers make you cry. Often they make you sob. I remember when I first connected the dots in 2016 that by the time I got to When Friendship Followed Me Home by Paul Griffin, I was terrified to read it. The cover is blue, the title is blue and there is a DOG on the cover. As I began to read it, I found that Ben has trouble making friends, he's a former foster kid who's just been adopted, but then she dies. His next home harbors an angry alcoholic. There's homelessness, abuse, bullying and then we encounter the stray dog. Turns out the dog is the least of his worries. And yes, I'm sobbing at the end. *There is a new cover, but the majority of it is still really blue.

So now, I have this Pavlovian reaction to blue covers, but 2018 seems to be breaking the trend. No heartbreaking tears in Secret Sisters, but lots of tears in The Truth About Mason Buttle. And it's brown. Really brown.

Apparently now we are on our own. Perhaps you'll cry during a blue-covered book, or maybe it will be pink with a tornado on the front. The good news is that books in 2018 continue to be amazing. They break stereotypes, trends, and other preconceived notions. Our kids will be all the better for it.

What about you? What are your favorite books that made you cry?