My Brother Oliver

Three starred reviews!

A “gut-wrenching and unforgettable” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) novel in verse about a boy struggling with guilt as his family reels from the fallout of his older brother’s extreme depression and tries to hold onto hope.

My brother’s not here.
My brother’s not here.
My brother’s not here.
And it’s all
because of
me.

Brooks loves and adores his older brother, Oliver. That’s why it was so hard—practically impossible, really—for him to have done what he did and told his parents about what Oliver wanted to do.

Now Oliver has been sent away. He’s miserable, and Brooks’s family is falling apart. His mom and dad are sad and scared, and it seems like nothing will ever be okay again. Maybe things would be better if Brooks had just kept his mouth shut. Can he and his family find the hope they need to keep going?

R.L. Toalson grew up running wild through corn rows and cow-grazing fields and recording true and wildly exaggerated false tales to entertain her friends, family members, and anyone who would listen. She still runs (literally) wild through the streets of her city and spends most of her days recording true (if a little exaggerated) and false tales to entertain anyone who will listen. She lives in San Antonio, Texas, with her one brilliant husband, six delightful children, and two arrogant cats. She’s the author of The Colors of the Rain, which won the Arnold Adoff Poetry Honor Award for New Voices in 2020; The Woods, which received a starred review from Booklist; the highly acclaimed The First Magnificent Summer; and Dirty Windows Don’t Open. Visit her at RachelToalson.com.