Ms. Bixby’s Last Day (Walden Pond Press, 2016) by John David Anderson is heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time.
Take three fifth grade boys, who are friends–Topher, Steve and Brand. Mix in their favorite teacher who is leaving because she has cancer. Three personalities reacting to the same event together develop a plan which will get them in trouble and go so incredibly wrong and right.
The story is told in multiple viewpoints. We see kids whose lives are very different, but pulled together as friends. The book is a 2016 Junior Library Guild Selection and a “TOP 10 Summer 16 Kids’ Indie Next Pick.”
The author has also written Insert Coin to Continue, The Dungeoneers, Minion, Sidekicked, and Standard Hero Behavior. Go to John David Anderson’s website and read the About the Author page for a sense of his humor. Plus, look at the fun extras on each book’s page.