Published on Aug 27, 1996 | 128 Pages
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
Author
Barbara Park
Barbara Park was best-known as the creator and author of the New York Times bestselling Junie B. Jones series, the stories of an outrageously funny kindergartener that have kept kids (and their grownups) laughing—and reading—for over two decades. The series was consistently a #1 New York Times bestseller, spending over 180 weeks on the list, and Barbara and her books were profiled in such national outlets as Time, Newsweek, USA Today, the New York Times, and Today. Barbara Park arrived at the writing profession through an indirect route. Before becoming a bestselling and beloved children’s author, she originally intended to teach high school history and political science. She got her secondary education degree but quickly realized that her calling was to be a writer. After several rejections, Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers acquired her first manuscript, Operation: Dump the Chump and two others. Don’t Make Me Smile was published first in 1981, followed by Operation: Dump the Chump (1982) and Skinnybones (1982). She went on to write over 50 books, from the picture book Ma! There’s Nothing to Do Here!, a love letter to her grandson, to middle grade novels such as Skinnybones, The Kid in the Red Jacket, Mick Harte Was Here, and The Graduation of Jake Moon. Barbara won more than 40 children’s book awards, including several Children’s Choice Awards. Barbara Park was born in Mount Holly, New Jersey, on April 21, 1947, and spent most of her adult life in Arizona. There she, with her husband, Richard, raised her two sons and spent time with her two young grandsons. Park died on November 15, 2013 after fighting ovarian cancer heroically for seven and a half years.
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