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Do you like books where the characters are longing for something that they can’t have? Well, this is shown in The Elephant in the Room by Holly Goldberg Sloan. This book follows the character Sila. She and her family are immigrants from Turkey. Recently, her mom has faced immigration problems and has been sent out of the country. Her parents said she was only going to be gone a few weeks, but it had been almost a year. Everything changes in her life when she meets Gio and becomes friends with Matteo. She meets Gio when she tags along with her dad to fix Gio’s car. Her and Gio become friends almost immediately. She meets Matteo in this project they’re doing at school. This project is where she and Matteo sit in a room for 20 minutes. She is doing this because she hasn’t made friends since her mom left so they think this will help her. A couple days after she meets Gio he buys an elephant that she immediately connects with. This elephant was originally in a circus that they met while at a donut shop. Since Sila loved it so much Gio bought it. Her life went from tired and depressing to exciting and enjoyable. All this happened, and her mom still can’t come home. Will her mom ever be able to come home? Or will she always have a parent missing from her life? To find out, read The Elephant in the Room by Holly Goldberg Sloan.

If you like books like The Elephant in the Room by Holly Goldberg Sloan, then you should read Better with Butter by Victoria Piontek. This story follows Marvel, a 12 year old girl. Marvel has an anxiety disorder and is scared of a lot of things who has trouble making friends. Until she finds an unexpected adorable goat as a friend. Will Marvel ever be able to make a real friend her age? Will she ever get over her fears? To find out, read Better with Butter by Victoria Piontek.

You are in two separate worlds, one with your friends and one at home with your family. With your friends you can have fun and forget everything, back at home you are being torn apart by your parents, but you have to be strong for your little sister. Joy feels both of these things in A Soft Place to Land by Janae Marks. Joy just moved into an apartment and she is having a hard time adjusting, especially when her parents keep fighting. When she meets Nora everything changes. Nora, who also lives at the apartment, invites her to the hideout. The hideout is a secret room under the apartment that only the kids know about. Joy is running pretty smoothly now but then it turns back into everything is so overwhelming again. It started with the Joyful dog walkers and ended with a secret message on the hideout’s wall. The Joyful dog walkers is a business her, and Nora started and this is how she is going to pay for the piano she wants. Joy, being curious, wants to figure out who wrote the messages. Just as she starts figuring it out her parents need to have time away from each other, so her dad goes and stays at her uncle’s house. Through all of this, she still needs to be strong. Joy goes on a walk and all of a sudden loses Ziggy one of the dogs she was walking. Will Joy ever figure out who is writing the messages? Will Joy ever feel at home again with her parents fighting? Read A Soft Place to Land to find out.

If you liked the book A Soft Place to Land by Janae Marks you might also enjoy reading Paper Wishes by Lois Sepahban.  In Paper Wishes the girl loses her dog just like how Joy loses Ziggy. In this book, the main character is forced to leave her home and leave her dog too. She tries to sneak him away, but gets caught and is forced to abandon the dog. She wishes every day that her dog will come back to her by sending out drawings of the dog into the air. Will she ever find her dog again? Will she ever make it back home? Read Paper Wishes by Lois Sepahban to find out but don’t forget to read A Soft Place to Land by Janae Marks.