One of the things that my book club students often notice in children’s books is the Dead or Missing Parent Syndrome. In one class, we read:

• Roald Dahl’s Danny, Champion of the World: Dead mother
• Cornelia Funke’s Dragon Rider: Missing parents
• Frances Hodgson Burnett’s Secret Garden: Dead parents
• Diana Wynne Jones’s Charmed Life: Dead parents
• Kenneth Oppel’s Airborn: Dead father
• Kacen Callender’s King and the Dragonfly: Dead brother
• and just to top it off,

… Read the rest!