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Have you noticed how many of the classics (and many newer books) have a deceased parent/s? I know it was a a greater factor in the past, due to limited medical/scientific knowledge, but I'm trying to give dd a break from orphans or one-deceased-parent stories.

I'll put in another plug for Betsy-Tacy books then: no dead parents (although the first book includes death of Tacy's infant brother or sister and one of the highschool books late in the series involves death of a friend's father)