Families who loved Rosa, Sola by Carmela Martino often look for books with a similar feel. These 20 recommendations were selected for their similarity in style, theme, and reading level.
Reach for this book when your child is grappling with the heavy silence of a family loss or the confusion of seeing their parents paralyzed by grief. Set in a 1966 Italian-American neighborhood in Chicago, the story follows ten-year-old Rosa, whose excitement for a new sibling turns to profound loneliness after her mother suffers a late-term miscarriage. It is a tender exploration of how a child navigates their own sorrow when the adults around them are too broken to provide their usual support. This book is a thoughtful choice for middle-grade readers who need to see their complicated feelings of abandonment, faith, and resilience reflected in a realistic historical setting. It offers a path toward healing and the reminder that joy can eventually return to a household darkened by tragedy.