Why do dead parents = great kids books?

My son’s 5th grade class recently took a four-day trip to Philadelphia. I could sense both his excitement (it’s a right-of-passage at his school) and his anxiety. He’s not an “I want my mommy” kind of kid. Never has been, which is why I was surprised at sleep-away camp last summer he suffered from mild homesickness.

Still, he is looking forward to heading off this summer to a new camp and asked to sign up for the 6-week program.

At dinner we talked about the upcoming trip and my husband said jokingly (we always joke, and our humor of choice is sarcasm) “Should we tell him about how we’re moving while he’s gone?”

His face shifted. “Why would you say that?,” he asked with slight horror with a soupcon of disgust. I immediately said, “Do you really think we’d move without telling you?”

He then turned serious.

“Do you know why I was a little homesick this summer?” he asked.

“Why?”

“Because sometimes other people’s parents would visit.”

“Were you worried that we’d move and not tell you?” I asked.

“No, I was worried that you’d die.”

The silence sat there for a minute. I wanted to lunge across the table and hold him.

After assurances and promises not to die anytime soon the evening resumed as usual.

I got to thinking, why would he imagine such a thing? I needed to ponder no further than his bookshelf. It is packed with the most popular series for kids his age. Then I thought about the plots.

Here they are:

Artemis Fowl: teenage criminal mastermind whose father has disappeared.
He lives in the Lower Elements an underground city where no other humans live.

Harry Potter: A half-blood super wizard whose parents are killed and he is sent to live with abusive relatives. Eventually he is sent away to study his craft at a, at times, the menacing Hogwarts academy.

The Mysterious Benedict Society: unusually gifted children are sent to live in “The Institute” to solve mysteries. One character is an orphan, another a runaway, one has a mother who died and a father who was kidnapped.

Clearly these books had affected him far more than I realized. I looked online for some other options. The current super popular book is Hunger Games which takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where a two teenagers compete on a reality show where they try kill one another.

Yikes, oh, and WTF?

So I asked my friend, who is a school librarian, for recommendations that did not involve orphans being sent away without one’s parents or murdering of one’s peers. After struggling for a bit she gave me some suggestions,

We’ve only got a few months before he goes to camp, and I don’t want him carrying around the fear that his first day of camp may be the last day he sees us.

So, I’m looking for some suggestions. If you have kids around his age, pleeeease let me know if you’ve come across some engaging stories that involve positive life-lesson-y plots where the antagonist comes home to a safe home and loving parents.