With you and Without you by Ann M. Martin is a book about a girl, Lizzie and her families worst nightmare-her dad is sick woth a poor heart. He only is expected to live for another six months to a year, and Lizzie's family plans to make the best of it. Lizzie has a horrible time, her cat dies not even a week after the diagnosis, and Christmas is right around the corner. Her dad loves Christmas, and makes it a joy for not only his family, but others too. They try to make that Christmas a full of happiness and good memories as possible. But after her dad's death, she feel as if it's not right to celebrate Christmas, and is deciding if she should go against it. This is a story of a familie's lost loved one, and what follows the process of a death.

I rate this book 4 stars. it has alot of good detail in it, but it seems as if her father's life is cut way too short. Not even half way through her book, he's dead. Then it just goes on and on about Lizzie this and Lizzie that, like suddenly the book revolves around Lizzie. By reading the back of the book, you'd think it's just about a dieing dad, not a dead one. As sad and hoorible as this sounds it gets worse. ( )

This novel is about a young girl's experience with her family learning to deal with her father's heart disease and untimely death. Liza has 2 younger sisters and an older brother and one autumn, they learn their father only has less than a year to live. The family is determined to make this the best year ever. They pull out all the stops for Christmas and celebrate their loved one's life before he passes away in the spring. Liza has difficulty dealing with her father's death and pushes people away. She feels guilty because she is alive and feels like she shouldn't enjoy it anymore because her father can't. Liza doesn't seem to understand that the rest of her family is mouring his loss too. Her youngest sister feels like her world is unstable. She loses her father, her house, and has to go to a new school all within the same year. Her other sister feels Liza doesn't care and is lonely. Her mother has lost her husband and the family obligations now rest on her shoulders. And Liza's older brother is faced with being the man of the house and entering college without the guidance of his father. Months pass and life does go on, but Liza is still sad. She doesn't want to be with her friends and feels guilty all the time. Over the course of time, Liza is able to deal with her father's death and realizes her family is hurting too.

I used to love Ann M. Martin's Baby-Sitters Club series growing up and I really liked this one. I had to put it down several times because I started to tear up, but it was a great story! The subject matter itself is definitely serious, but Martin put a little humor into her book to lighten the mood.

In the classroom I would use this book for a student who is dealing with a similar situation to help him/her understand what has happened. It could aslo be given to one of their friends to help them understand how the student may feel dealing with the loss of a loved one. I definitely couldn't use it as a read aloud because I could barely read it to myself without crying!