Books Like Toppling
Families who loved Toppling by Sally Murphy often look for books with a similar feel. These 20 recommendations were selected for their similarity in style, theme, and reading level.
Families who loved Toppling by Sally Murphy 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 struggling to navigate the complex emotions of a peer or family member facing a serious medical crisis. Through the gentle medium of free verse, this story provides a roadmap for children who feel helpless in the face of change. It validates the instinct to want to fix things while teaching that simply showing up and being a friend is a superpower in itself. Following John and his tight-knit group of friends, the story balances the heavy reality of childhood leukemia with the lighthearted normality of school life and domino toppling. It is a compassionate choice for middle-grade readers (ages 8 to 12) because it avoids clinical jargon and instead focuses on the social and emotional experience of loyalty. Parents will appreciate how it models healthy communication and empathy without being overly sentimental or frightening.
