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So. Here's a question: in children's literature, is it preferable to be an orphan than motherless?
Let's consider the options.
If a child is orphaned by the death of both their parents, it is usually a device which frees up the child to have an adventure--the sort which could never have been enjoyed if constrained by the banalities of family life. There may be some shuffling about among
John Connolly's "The Book of Lost Things" has a child that has lost the mother and he goes through a lot of hard times.<br />If you want to extend that to the loss of one parent only, the Katniss in "The Hunger Games" lost the father and had to grow up very quickly.
Katniss definitely fits the pattern of the "wrong-parent" child: her mother is completely ineffective at dealing with the situation, leaving Katniss to muddle through on her own while trying to grieve as well.
I'm with Isa - I thought immediately of The Book of Lost Things. The little boy loses his mother to a terrible illness, absorbs a new step-parent and a move during a time of danger in the world due to war, but goes on a magical adventure that is dangerous as well - but teaches him to be strong, who to trust and to appreciate those that he still has. It is actually a very funny book, despite
I've read The Book of Lost Things. It had definite YA cross-over appeal, but I would debate whether or not it was written for other than an adult audience. Still, it's a good example of a mother-less child who gets to do more than sit at home and wring his hands.