Available:*
Library | Shelf Number | Material Type | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Firwood Road Library | J WALL 3 | Juvenile English Fiction | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Isipingo Civic Library | J E WALL /GROW | Juvenile English Fiction | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Stanmore Library | J WALL 3 | Juvenile English Fiction | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Umbilo Library | J WALL 3 | Juvenile English Fiction | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Windermere Library | J WALL 3 | Juvenile English Fiction | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Wyebank Library | J E WALL /GROW | Juvenile English Fiction | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
Written with quiet intensity, this beautiful and spare novel examines what happens to Tessa's family after her fifteen-year-old brother is killed in a drunk-driving accident. Set adrift, Tessa is forced to find a way to keep going . . . even as her mother drifts further and further from her. Like Getting Near to Baby, this is an unstinting, compassionate, and deceptively plain story of a damaged family forging a way out of its grief.
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-6-The book describes 11-year-old Tessa's inward journey toward health and peace after suffering the sudden loss of her teenage brother in a drunk-driving accident. She desperately needs the comfort of her mother, who barely seems to notice her. She watches helplessly as her mother decides to leave home and spend time with her sister. Tessa and her father return to the routines of their daily life and find comfort and support at every turn. On her delivery of the weekly neighborhood newspaper she makes new friends, including a substitute grandmother who talks with her about loss. Her teachers are kind, especially her unconventional music teacher, who encourages her to join the track team and to record her thoughts about her brother. As Tessa talks and writes in her journal, she recognizes her conflicting emotions. She remembers how mean her brother had often been to her. She is guilt ridden for not telling her parents that she knew his plans the night he was killed, and feels anger at her brother for lying. But she also recalls some simple gifts he gave her and some special times they had together. Although the book begins with the jolting darkness of confusion and devastation, its tone is one of hope. Psychological survival stories often have a more limited audience than those with more physical action, but those interested in the drama of coping and healing will find a convincing portrait of a girl and her family rebuilding their lives after tragedy.-Adele Greenlee, Bethel College, St. Paul, MN (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
When her brother dies, a 10-year-old girl grapples with enormous guilt and feelings of abandonment by her mother's all-encompassing pain. In a boxed review, PW wrote, "With nary a superfluous scene or a wasted word, the author crafts a deeply moving novel exploring a family's loss and grieving." Ages 10-up. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Gr. 4-6. "At my brother's funeral . . ." From the first words, this small, beautiful novel is rooted in hard fact, true to 11-year-old Tessa's experience after her older brother is killed in a drunk-driving accident. There's no sentimentality, not an abstract word of message or medicine. Tessa remembers good and bad, and the rhythm of her sentences expresses her sorrow, anger, guilt, jealousy, and love ("Scott could be a real jerk sometimes. I was tired of thinking about him . . . He didn't like me . . . I wish Scott was here now"). The images are simple poetry, as when she sees her father cry: "He was in the garden with his head down on the hoe handle. His shoulders were shaking." Her grandparents are too self-absorbed to help her, but she finds a bubbe in an elderly Jewish neighbor. Her best friend is there for her, too, and running on the track team helps. For a while a loving teacher is like a parent, but no one's perfect. The taut center of the book is Tessa's relationship with her mother, whose angry withdrawal and depression feel like personal rejection. When Mom finally reaches out to Tessa, their embrace is the climax of the action, almost unbearable to read. There are many useful self-help books for children coping with death, but this is gripping family drama. --Hazel Rochman