Practical, moving, and deeply kind.
Author Mayrock, a teen who was bullied for many years, offers tips and inspiration to others in her position.
Advice is presented in short, visually appealing chapters. Exercises, lists, drawings, and pull quotes are interleaved with text, and blue, bolded lettering emphasizes key lines. Each chapter opens with a heartfelt "roem"—a term the author has coined for her rap poems—in type that emulates handwriting set on a lined page. Creativity, Mayrock explains, has been one of the most powerful tools in her healing process. Throughout the book, suggestions are helpfully broad-ranging, from nitty-gritty safety tips (if you go to a party, make sure you have a trustworthy ride home) to internal affirmations (bullying is never your fault). One of the most effective chapters invites readers to identify traits bullies target and reframe them as positives; the author describes her own quietness, creativity, and long, thick hair as examples. The author writes transparently from personal experience, and some of the specific emotional impacts or bullying tactics she describes might not be wholly universal. Nevertheless, her advice is varied and her compassion, genuine enough that readers are bound to find plenty of applicable nuggets as well as a wealth of encouragement.
Practical, moving, and deeply kind. (Nonfiction. 10-18)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-86066-6
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 25, 2015
Potentially useful insights for youngsters encountering loss.
Advice on coping with loss, from the death of a family member or a close friend to a beloved pet’s demise to life-changing events such as divorce.
Imperi, a chaplain and thanatologist (“someone who knows about death, dying, grief and loss”), uses her own terminology to distinguish between “deathloss” (“when a person or an animal we love dies”) and “shadowloss” (“the death of something, not someone”). These categories make sense, but kids grieving the death of a loved one may find it difficult to wade through sections about other serious problems. Although the recent pandemic caused many actual deaths, this book describes Covid as a shadowloss, a disrupter of normal life. Imperi mentions a few religious traditions, but the book is primarily concerned with practical ideas and individual experiences. Specific thinking, writing, and creative exercises for moving through the grief process are included. She spotlights five diverse teens, along with their coping strategies for different types of loss; they appear to be composite portraits rather than real individuals. The black-and-white line illustrations and charts throughout will appeal to some, but the boxed affirmations on many pages may feel repetitive to others; the work overall feels a bit like an expanded magazine article. Still, patient readers will likely find guidance—and reassurance.
Potentially useful insights for youngsters encountering loss. (grief journal, glossary, note for caregivers, resources, references, index) (Nonfiction. 11-14)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781525309656
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
Cathartic and uplifting.
The experiences of watching a mother succumb to cancer and grieving her death are explored with honesty and compassion.
Feder (illustrator: Unladylike, 2018), the oldest of three sisters in a close-knit Jewish family, grew up with an artistic, spirited, playful, and affectionate mother, someone whose high spirits were the perfect foil for her daughter’s anxious personality. The summer after Feder’s freshman year of college, her mother was diagnosed with cancer, dying in the spring of Feder’s sophomore year. This vulnerable memoir is a tribute to a beloved woman as well as a meditation on losing a parent when one is on the cusp of adulthood. Much like grief itself, the book careens from deep despair to humor to poignancy, fear, remorse, and anger, mirroring the emotional disorientation that comes with such a significant death. By sharing many particulars about her mother—the foods she loved and hated, the silly in-jokes, her endearing (and annoying) quirks—Feder personalizes her loss in a way that will resonate with members of the “Dead Moms Club,” with whom she describes having an immediate bond. Readers who have not experienced deep grief will learn from the missteps of well-intentioned friends and acquaintances. The pastel-toned illustrations effectively convey Feder’s youth and the intensity of her emotions while emphasizing the ultimate message of survival and resilience in the face of life-changing grief.
Cathartic and uplifting. (Graphic memoir. 12-adult)Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-525-55302-1
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 6, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
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