"Austin's visit to his grandmother's is the first since Grandpa died. Austin notices Grandpa's things but feels the emptiness of his absence. This spare story vividly captures the emotions of painful times and shows how they ease with sharing and remembering. Boy and grandfather were close, but boy and grandmother seem destined to be just as close, with Grandpa's memory to bind them. Poignant and perceptive, this has impressive resonance, and readers won't easily shed its warm afterglow."--(starred) Booklist.

Nine-year-old Austin visits his grandmother the summer after his grandfather dies and together they try to come to terms with their loss.

What do you do without your best friend? Jamie isn't afraid of anything. Always ready to get into trouble, then right back out of it, he's a fun and exasperating best friend. But when something terrible happens to Jamie, his best friend has to face the tragedy alone. Without Jamie, there are so many impossible questions to answer -- how can your best friend be gone forever? How can some things, like playing games in the sun or the taste of the blackberries that Jamie loved, go on without him?

Novel-Ties study guides contain reproducible pages in a chapter by chapter format to accompany a work of literature of the same title.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1883.

Nine-year-old Austin visits his grandmother the summer after his grandfather dies and together they try to come to terms with their loss.