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Chatterbox: Blab About Books
Touching and Heartbreaking Novels
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All describe the books we will talk about!
This page is about books that break your heart and change your life. Touching books, to be brief. I really love the books listed at the bottom, but since this page is about books that are moving, you can have ones that really make you cry.
The Sight: a totally awesome book about wolves in Transylvania (it has nothing to do with Twilight!). One has a special power that makes them sort of like an oracle, but more terrible in a strange way. This is moving because the vision in the end came true, but all the wolves hoped it wouldn't. I do not want to give anything away about the prophecy and its meaning, but just to let you know, two stanzas are wrong.
The Underneath: a great book. It is really weird, but lovely in its own way, because it echoes the real world (abused children, abandoned animals, etc.). It is for anybody who loves cats, dogs, Greek myths, first nations folklore, love stories, and vague endings. Look up Lamia to figure out the story behind the snake.
The Old Country: a book about shapeshifting. Amazing because it talks about the tragedy war can bring on not only humans, but nature too. Basically, the fox steals the girl's favourite chicken, and she goes out to kill it. But the fox and the girl switch minds, and there is this big war. Basically, in the end (yes, this is not a spoiler) something very weird happens that questions all that the reader, narrator and characters know.
submitted by Lauren B., age 11 yrs, Richmond BC
(May 14, 2010 - 11:35 pm)
(May 14, 2010 - 11:35 pm)
Yes, it seems like most of Ann Rinaldi's books are sad. Most of them are historical fiction. I just got a bunch of her books out of the library, and the one I am reading now is called The Coffin Quilt. Even the title is depressing! It's really good so far, though heartbreaking!
(May 21, 2010 - 7:33 pm)
I haven't read that 1 yet. I'll look for it.
The only non-hi-fi book of hers that I've read is Millicent's Gift (fantasy). It was good, but I like her hi-fi better. And her realistic fiction just didn't look like the sort of thing I'd generally want to read at all...
(May 23, 2010 - 1:58 pm)
Books that made me cry: Jacob Have I Loved. Full stop.
(June 1, 2010 - 4:11 pm)
I read Jacob have I loved It didn't make me cry (I think, I read it a LONG time ago, well, maybe not that long) but it's really touching. I can't believe her grandmother. The ending was nice though.
(June 10, 2010 - 8:04 pm)
Oh, Lord. Walk Two Moons, Sharon Creech. Anything by Sharon Creech, really. And there is nothing more to be said, because I cannot possibly do that book justice. I won't even attempt it. Poignant and touching and heartbreaking and endearing and yes, shutting up now. I cried. Oh, did I cry. The ending... ahhh!
(June 14, 2010 - 6:14 pm)
Oh, man, I thought Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson was amazing. Such a wonderful book, and (IMO) it definitely fits into this category. It's about a black slave girl in the 1700's. I'm going to mutilate it if I even attempt to explain it, but suffice it to say that I thought it was fantastic. Google it (the answer to everything, didn't you know?).
Ooo. Might I suggest Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl? Haunting and beautiful YA fantasy romance whatnot set in the Deep South. Yum. Trust me, it's excellent. I was kind of tearing up towards the end, but that is, of course, because I am the biggest sap ever when it comes to books and movies. 12+ probably, though, because it's, cough, YA romance.
Hmm. Oh, wow. Ohhhh, gosh. Brain-flash! 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher. Definitely 13 or 14+, but oh gosh was it fantastic. I bawled my eyes out at 3 am because I had to go to bed and I didn't want to stop reading it, so I read it under the covers using the light from my iPod. It is truly amazing. And it will make you cry (unless you're the type of person who cannot cry in books/movies- in which case, I have nothing to say to you, sorry). Ahhh!
Ehh. I'll think of more later. I'm running on 3 hours of sleep; I cannot be held accountable for my actions. :D
(June 14, 2010 - 6:11 pm)
Oh my gosh! I can't belive that I never heard of any of them! GREAT summary of the books Lauren B. I can't pick my favorite one!! I am gonna have to go and buy them! I hope their at Half Price Books!! Those sound like AWESOME books I hope I can reade them all! I think I'll like "The Underneath and "The Sight" the most!!
(June 16, 2010 - 5:55 pm)
A book that made me cry was: No dags alowed by Bill Wallace! IT wasn't sad it was just HAPPY!!!
(June 16, 2010 - 5:59 pm)
Also, Cages by Peg Kheret was touching. So was Click by David Almond, Eoin Colfer, Roddy Doyle, Deborah Ellis, Nick Hornby, Margo Lanagan, Gregory Maguire, Ruth Ozeki, Linda Sue Park, and Tim Wynne-Jones (which looks like a very odd combination of authors, but trust me, they actually managed to make it work, which, in my opinion, is incredible) in places. I liked that it wasn't the entire book that was that way, there would just be these sudden little moments that would be very moving. I think the unexpectedness of it all added to the emotion.
(June 17, 2010 - 1:37 pm)
If I Should Die Before I Wake by Han Nolan. This book was incredible, touching, heartbreaking... Absolutely amazing. It's about this girl, Hillary, who's a neo-Nazi (a current-day Nazi) and is in a major motorcycle accident. Then, while she's in the hospital, she has this falling sensation and when it stops she is a girl named Chana, a Jew during the Holocaust. She keeps going from herself in the hospital to Chana's horrible life during the Holocaust. In the first few chapters Hilliary is really angry and swears a lot, but that stops. It is, also, a depressing book, as it's about the horrible events of the Holocaust (so younger CBers might not want to read it yet), but it's also an incredible and life-changing book.
(June 17, 2010 - 5:55 pm)
The Lone Star Journals
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Get Along, Little Doggies: The Chisolm Trail Diary of Hallie Lou Wells
By Lisa Waller Rodgers
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The Great Storm: The Hurricane Diary of J.T. King, Galvaston, Texas, 1900
By Lisa Waller Rodgers
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Remember the Alamo: The Runaway Scrape Diary of Belle Wood
By Lisa Waller Rodgers
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All of the books listed above mede me cry, cry, cry, and cry! Get along, Little doggies wasn't really that sad it was just happy. In some parts it was happy then it would get sad! The other two were just set sad!! You can get all three on Amazon! Hope you can read them all!!!
(June 17, 2010 - 5:34 pm)
Can someone post about these books??!
(June 23, 2010 - 3:32 pm)
Very nice idea, Lauren B!! Love this thread! I guess I'll add some...
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. Yes, you've all (I bet) seen the movie posters and possibly seen the movie, which I haven't, but have you taken the time to read the book? Ah, this is such a beautiful story if there ever was one. The characters are all so unique and the plot twists so original... This is a story about the trials and tribulations of a family. The father is a firefighter, the mother is an attorney turned mom. They have three kids (not in order of age): Kate, who has leukemia and who's death everyone awaits, Anna, the daughter who was never really meant to be, who is the perfect match for Kate and is the automatic donor, and last and least, Jesse, the only boy, who was left at the wayside for life to take him prisoner. They all have stories to tell, and hardships to face. To say the least, I cried.
Love That Dog by Sharon Creech. I know you all would just tear this book up in a very short amount of time, so I recommend reading it in the bookstore or the library when you happen to be there, if you don't mind leaving the public area with tears streaming down your face. This book, which can't truly be classified as a novel, is a story told in poetry form by a boy, who is opposed to poetry at first, but over time, realizes his passion for it. Includes poems by masters such as Robert Frost. A very touching book, though it isn't necessarily a hard book in any terms.
~Leaf
(June 23, 2010 - 2:59 pm)
Have any of you heard of A Dog Called Kitty by Bill Wallace?? It made cry!! It was a touching story of a boy who had an accident with a dog before so he never liked them. Then one day he discovers that there was a stray dog in their yard! He was really scared. His mom chased it away but it kept coming back! Then the boy adjusted to that dog and Kitty (the dog) and the little boy were best friends. SPOILER ALERT
[At the end the dog dies!] When the dog died was the saddest part of the book! That part made me cry for one hour!
(June 23, 2010 - 3:40 pm)
Oh, yeah, my fourth grade class read that one. I agree. Beauty by the same author was sad and good, too. I read it by choice at about the same time.
(June 24, 2010 - 1:24 pm)