“Illness is a Part of Life. A Good Book Can Help Kids Cope.”
“Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick,” Susan Sontag writes in her seminal 1978 essay Illness as a Metaphor. “Although we all prefer to use only the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place.”
Disease is something every child will encounter, as Sontag eloquently points out. Yet it is often shrouded in taboo. An illness in the family might be kept a secret or buried under mysterious language. Our bodies can become scary, dangerous – even shameful – when we don’t understand how they work in sickness and in health. Avoiding the subject leaves kids ill equip to talk about discomfort, pain, and the swirl of emotions that come with it.
As a child, my family talked a lot about disease. My father, a surgeon, discussed tough cases and triumphant ones at the dinner table. I remember paging through his medical textbooks and marveling at anatomical drawings of my insides. But novels like Little Women and The Secret Garden gave me a deeper understanding of the experience of illness.
While the classics have much to offer, a handful of middle-grad novels have broadened my understanding of “the kingdom of the sick,” as Sontag calls it. Reading them with my 11-year-old daughter has given us a shared language to talk about illness as a part of life.
Wink by Rob Harrell
Harrell’s semi-autobiographical novel about a 7th grader diagnosed with a rare eye cancer is hilarious, heartbreaking, and life-affirming. In other words, it’s brilliant. Harrell’s deft sense of humor invites you to examine the stigma that surrounds illness and the liberating power of art and human connection.
Merci Suárez Changes Gears by Meg Medina
Merci is a heroine for the ages. A 6th grader navigating private school as a scholarship student, her family is her rock, especially Lolo, her wise and warm grandfather.
Only Lolo’s been acting differently. An angry outburst, forgetting things, tumbling off his bike – Merci can see Lolo changing, but no one in her family will tell her what’s going on.
Ultimately, Merci learns that her grandfather has Alzheimer’s Disease. Meg Medina offers a delicate portrait of how cognitive disorders unfold and effect families. Ultimately, Merci’s understanding of her grandfather’s condition allows her to step up and take on more responsibility. This empowering story offers a blueprint for how families can face illness together.
Dust by Dusti Bowling
In Dust, Avalyn moves to Arizona with her family in search of a climate that would prevent another asthma attack like that one that almost killed her ten years ago. Her world is thrown into chaos when dust storms kick up, coinciding with the arrival of a new student at school. Breath and the experience of having a chronic respiratory illness are at the center of this novel (at least until the source of those dust storms is revealed…no spoilers!). Bowling uses magical realism to take you inside the experience of illness in a way that will change your understanding of health.
Published May 19th, 2026 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
About the Book: A precocious seventh grader whose cancer has recently gone into remission assists her “medical detective” uncle while readjusting to life in middle school in this heartwarming and funny middle grade debut novel that’s Front Desk meets Roll with It.
Twelve-year-old Deepa is ready to un-pause her life. After spending a year in the hospital, she’s itching for things to go back to the way they were before she got sick.
Only everything’s changed. Her parents treat her like she’s made of glass, there’s a mean girl out to get her, and her best friend Renée forgot to mention she has a whole new life now.
But when her Uncle Jai, a genius doctor that patients love to hate and the “Sherlock Holmes” of medical mysteries, needs her help with a tricky case involving a teenage patient, Deepa steps up to the plate—because she knows better than anyone what it’s like to be sick.
But why, oh why, did her first patient have to be her bully’s older brother?
As the case spirals and her illness flares up, Deepa quickly learns that if she wants to save her patient, she’ll have to diagnose what’s going on inside herself first.
About the Author: Priya Swaminathan lived the dream of making movies and TV shows for 19 years. She helped launch Higher Ground productions, Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company, where she produced award-winning documentaries, films, and kids shows like Waffles + Mochi, Emmy-award winner Ada Twist, Scientist, and the NAACP award-winner We The People. Previously, she developed narrative films for Spike Jonze, Johnny Knoxville, George Clooney, and Bennett Miller and was the head of development at Annapurna Pictures. A few years ago, Priya decided to shake things up. She quit her job to write and go back to school. She graduates from UCLA School of Nursing in June and plans to work with oncology patients. She lives in Los Angeles with her family and hopes that someday she’ll convince her husband to get a big, fluffy dog. Deepa, M.D. is her debut middle-grade novel.
Thank you, Priya, for sharing this wonderful list and showing how books can help with tough times in kids’ lives!
