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If you lived in the YA world, it's likely one or both of your parents, your favorite siblings, the grannie who raised you, your first crush, and/or your best friend all died last week. Barring that, they'll be dead ten pages from now--which will either send you into an existential quandary someone will need to pull you out of, or have you hunting for a killer that trained investigators can't seem to catch. Good luck with that...

This list is for all YA novels that feature dead parents, siblings, important relatives, girl/boyfriends, or friends as a part of character history or the starting gun for character motivation.

NOTE: If you see a book listed here erroneously, please leave a note for me so I can remove it. Thanks!

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Please only list books published with traditional presses (large or small; no self-published please) that are published in hardcover or paperback (ebook is fine, as long as hc or pb also are available)
1

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4.47 avg rating — 11,908,941 ratings
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2

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4.36 avg rating — 10,358,377 ratings
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3

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4.15 avg rating — 1,705,621 ratings
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4

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3.80 avg rating — 4,035,725 ratings
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5

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4.62 avg rating — 4,265,734 ratings
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6

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3.69 avg rating — 166 ratings
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7

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4.22 avg rating — 57,606 ratings
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8

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3.76 avg rating — 106,339 ratings
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9

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3.62 avg rating — 1,088 ratings
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9

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4.55 avg rating — 488,396 ratings
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11

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4.04 avg rating — 1,109,468 ratings
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12

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4.12 avg rating — 227,400 ratings
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13

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4.39 avg rating — 2,998,697 ratings
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14

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3.92 avg rating — 18,885 ratings
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15

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3.66 avg rating — 1,221 ratings
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16

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3.97 avg rating — 14,275 ratings
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17

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4.24 avg rating — 2,087,277 ratings
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18

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3.80 avg rating — 44,392 ratings
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19

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4.12 avg rating — 28,644 ratings
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19

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4.13 avg rating — 45 ratings
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19

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3.58 avg rating — 18,218 ratings
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19

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3.88 avg rating — 45,906 ratings
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23

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3.78 avg rating — 94,198 ratings
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23

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4.13 avg rating — 112,853 ratings
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23

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4.15 avg rating — 364,038 ratings
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23

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4.48 avg rating — 27 ratings
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23

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4.08 avg rating — 185 ratings
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28

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3.96 avg rating — 308,417 ratings
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28

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3.81 avg rating — 1,515 ratings
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28

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4.42 avg rating — 17,886 ratings
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28

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3.82 avg rating — 14,394 ratings
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28

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4.36 avg rating — 56 ratings
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28

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3.87 avg rating — 33,376 ratings
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34

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3.76 avg rating — 432 ratings
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34

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3.87 avg rating — 4,622 ratings
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34

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4.10 avg rating — 115,229 ratings
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34

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3.73 avg rating — 69,258 ratings
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38

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3.84 avg rating — 7,419 ratings
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38

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3.66 avg rating — 1,496,166 ratings
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38

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4.11 avg rating — 56,887 ratings
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41

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3.43 avg rating — 4,359 ratings
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41

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3.95 avg rating — 1,794,069 ratings
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41

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4.07 avg rating — 228 ratings
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44

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3.56 avg rating — 2,177 ratings
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44

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4.28 avg rating — 89,306 ratings
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44

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3.73 avg rating — 10,242 ratings
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44

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4.06 avg rating — 5,631 ratings
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48

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4.32 avg rating — 17,761 ratings
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48

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3.65 avg rating — 981 ratings
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50

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3.91 avg rating — 108,256 ratings
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50

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3.64 avg rating — 35,227 ratings
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50

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3.92 avg rating — 15,120 ratings
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53

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3.89 avg rating — 110 ratings
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53

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4.12 avg rating — 5,913,509 ratings
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53

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4.03 avg rating — 214,155 ratings
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53

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3.81 avg rating — 28,183 ratings
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57

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3.85 avg rating — 33,959 ratings
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58

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3.76 avg rating — 5,216 ratings
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58

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3.79 avg rating — 1,638 ratings
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60

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3.91 avg rating — 39,397 ratings
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61

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3.69 avg rating — 149 ratings
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61

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3.81 avg rating — 102,472 ratings
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63

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3.90 avg rating — 3,109 ratings
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64

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3.65 avg rating — 1,289 ratings
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65

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3.85 avg rating — 43,271 ratings
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66

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3.28 avg rating — 13,227 ratings
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67

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3.79 avg rating — 35,470 ratings
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68

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3.67 avg rating — 2,822 ratings
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69

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3.88 avg rating — 1,170 ratings
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70

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3.43 avg rating — 2,073 ratings
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71

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3.64 avg rating — 3,563 ratings
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72

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3.63 avg rating — 84,139 ratings
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73

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3.83 avg rating — 1,040,080 ratings
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73 books · 13 voters · list created February 9th, 2014 by Ollie Hennis (votes) .
1 like · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Ollie 299 books
187 friends
Julie 1103 books
1924 friends
Saturday's 2319 books
65 friends
Astraycat 2196 books
59 friends
Katie 19703 books
3 friends
Crissi 1163 books
480 friends
Zombieslayer⚡Alienhunter 1849 books
119 friends
Hannah 1492 books
165 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-4 of 4 (4 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Katie (new)

Katie The last three YA books I've read have all featured a main character whose mother died in a car accident. My response has gone from "how sad" to "Seriously? Again!?"


message 2: by Ollie (new)

Ollie Hennis Katie wrote: "The last three YA books I've read have all featured a main character whose mother died in a car accident. My response has gone from "how sad" to "Seriously? Again!?""

XD Which ones were they?


message 3: by Katie (new)

Katie Olivia wrote: "Katie wrote: "The last three YA books I've read have all featured a main character whose mother died in a car accident. My response has gone from "how sad" to "Seriously? Again!?""

XD Which ones..."


Make that four in a row! I'll Give You The Sun, The Geography of You and Me, Better Off Friends, and My Life With The Walter Boys. I think I need to stop reading YA books!


message 4: by Ollie (new)

Ollie Hennis Make that four in a row! I'll Give You The Sun, The Geography of You and Me, Better Off Friends, and My Life With The Walter Boys. I think I need to stop reading YA books!
..."



lol Maybe this list would have been better to be "YA Books that DON'T Kill Off a Loved One". Much shorter.


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