An award-winning, heartrending young middle grade novel from Barbara Park—the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Junie B. Jones series—just right for readers of Frindle, Love That Dog, The Lemonade War, and other classic young middle grade favorites.
Kids aren’t supposed to die.
Phoebe’s brother, Mick, was one of the funniest, coolest kids you’d ever meet—the kid who made you laugh until your stomach hurt, even if you were mad at him. The kid who freaked his and Phoebe’s mom out by putting a ceramic eye in a defrosted chicken; who went trick-or-treating as Thomas Crapper, the inventor of the modern-day flush toilet; who did a wild solo dance in front of the entire school. He was the kid you’d want to be friends with. So how can he be gone? And how will Phoebe’s family survive without him?
Winner of 12 State Awards!
An IRA-CBC Young Adults’ Choice
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
* “Genius . . . excruciatingly real . . . powerful.” —Publishers Weekly, starred
“[A] wrenching story permeated with humor and hope.” —School Library Journal
For the Review section (please add the two reviews and the state awards below):
“A very moving story about a terrific 12-year-old boy. By the end of the book, readers miss him, too.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Park skillfully interweaves humor and pain in this unique, utterly believable account of Phoebe’s attempt to cope with a heartbreaking loss.” —The Horn Book
WINNER—Georgia Children’s Book Award
WINNER—Connecticut Nutmeg Book Award
WINNER—Kansas William Allen White Children’s Book Award
WINNER—North Dakota Flicker Tale Children’s Book Award
WINNER—Rhode Island Children’s Book Award
WINNER—South Carolina Children’s Book Award
WINNER—Vermont Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award
WINNER—Illinois Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Book Award
WINNER—Indiana Young Hoosier Book Award
WINNER—Iowa Children’s Choice Award
WINNER—Minnesota Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award
NOMINEE—Washington Evergreen Young Adult Book Award
WINNER—Kentucky Bluegrass Master List
- ISBN10 0606109919
- ISBN13 9780606109918
- Publish Date 27 August 1996 (first published 14 March 1995)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 3 March 2021
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Demco Media Inc
- Edition Turtleback School & Library ed.
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 89
- Language English