Counting Thyme

Melanie Conklin's debut centers eleven-year-old Thyme Owen, whose family relocates to New York City so her younger brother can enter a pediatric cancer clinical trial. Thyme's grief over losing her San Diego life — her best friend, her grandmother, everything familiar — is rendered with honest specificity, and the middle-school social dynamics (new friends, cliques, a school play, a first crush) feel real rather than decorative. Conklin weaves accurate medical information about childhood cancer into the story without letting it become a medical drama. Kirkus praised the balance of humor and raw emotion, and the comparison to Lynda Mullaly Hunt is apt in warmth and heart. Caveat for families navigating illness: the pediatric cancer thread is present throughout. Ages 8-12; family-safe.