SIGN LANGUAGE by Amy Ackley

Abby's parents explain that her father is having an operation to remove one of his kidneys.  He comes home from the hospital and seems a little tired, but other than a scar on his stomach, he doesn't seem any different.  Abby learns that he will be going back from time to time for treatments, but he assures her everything will be fine.

Life goes on.  Abby hangs around with her best friend Spence.  She goes to school and does her homework plus all the extra credit.  She fights with her brother and disagrees with her mother.  Her father's treatments are making him tired and sick, and one day her mother announces he will be retiring from his teaching job at the high school.

When Abby overhears a conversation that includes the word cancer, she knows that everything is not going to be fine.  The worst happens and her father dies.  Nothing seems real, and Abby keeps expecting him to walk through the door or be sitting in his recliner in the living room.  How can life go on without him?

Author Amy Ackley tells a story of loss that emphasizes the hard facts associated with grief.  As Abby's remaining family members experience the stages of grief, Ackley shows that each of us grieve in our own way and in our own time.  SIGN LANGUAGE is a powerful look at love and family and living after loss.