Many books (for example, My Brother Sam Is Dead, by James L. Collier and Christopher Collier, 1974) deal, in passing, with the death of a close relative or friend. Some books deal with such deaths in more concentrated ways.

Two, written for slightly younger readers, include Jim Naughton's My Brother Stealing Second (1991) and Katherine Paterson's Bridge to Terabithia (1977).

Danny Santiago's powerful Famous All Over Town (1984) deals, among other things, with the death of a friend in L.A.'s Mexican Barrio and, like Phoenix Rising, is written in the first person.

Cynthia Voigt's Izzy, Willy-Nilly (1986) deals with a young woman who must come to terms with permanently crippling injuries from a car accident— much as Helen must come to terms with her disease. William Blinn's Brian's Song (1983) tells the true story of athlete friends (one black, one white) and the cancer death of one, while John...