Siobhan Dowd and Patrick Ness

Solace of the Road is a story about a girl who is running away from something. Page by page, more is revealed about her life, or lack of it really. She is a sad girl, trying to find herself, but knowing that she is leaving the world. I am not sure if I liked it, but Dowd provides us with a tender story, inciteful, good character development, well written for teens. Siobhan died of cancer in 2007. She was working on a children's story which was finished by Patrick Ness and published after her death. It is really good; part graphic novel, all dark and mysterious and sad and compelling; it's the very tender story of her son's difficulty coming to terms with her sickness. The title is "A Monster Calls" and much like "I Kill Giants" it involves a monster/giant that the kid has to kill, which of course they can't because it's cancer. The boy finally is released from the monster when he admits to himself that he is in emotional pain.