Jordan Sonnenblick's new book, After Ever After, explores that question. Jeffrey is in 8th grade, and doing pretty well, considering that he is a survivor of childhood leukemia. Even though he's glad to be alive, his life now has some added struggles beyond those expected in adolescence. The powerful drugs that saved his life also caused a fair amount of collateral damage. The possibility of the cancer recurring is diminished, but never goes away. And Jeffrey's older brother Steven, the rock he used to lean on, has gone to Africa to study drumming. [Steven's story of the year Jeffrey got cancer is told in Sonnenblick's first book: Drums, Girls, & Dangerous Pie.]
Jeffrey struggles through his year, finding more support than he realized was available, but not before stumbling a few times. The story never stops being interesting, and is by turns funny and heart-breaking.
I highly recommend Mr. Sonnenblick's books!
Links:
Jordan Sonnenblick's books at EVPL
Jordan Sonnenblick's website
