Holding at Third

Reach for this book when your child is feeling invisible or resentful while a sibling faces a serious medical crisis. It is an essential resource for families where a healthy child is struggling with the guilt of being 'okay' while their world has been upended by a brother or sister's illness. The story follows Matt, whose family has moved to a new town to be closer to the hospital where his older brother, Robbie, is being treated for cancer. Through the lens of Matt's passion for baseball, the book explores the messy and often taboo emotions of sibling rivalry mixed with medical trauma. It addresses the shame of wishing things would just go back to normal and the frustration of having one's own needs sidelined. Written for middle-grade readers, it offers a realistic and secular approach to family resilience that validates a child's right to their own feelings, even in the midst of a larger family tragedy.