Mom has passed on,
Dad is laid up,
sadness just muffles Matt.
Sometimes his job at Ray’s Funeral Home is just being another mourner, hoping that shared grief will ease the pain of losing his mother, but this one time, a girl challenges what Matt thinks about death, about memory…
Ask for this strong book at your local library or independent bookstore.
Can grief be tucked away from the everydayness of living?
**kmm
Book info: The Boy in the Black Suit / Jason Reynolds [author site] [publisher site] [audio author video] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.
My book talk: After Mom’s death, Matt’s job at his Brooklyn neighborhood funeral parlor gives him insight into grief and a startling revelation into the past.
Better to wear a black suit as fill-in pallbearer and chair arranger than working in fast-food, Matt thinks as he wrestles with reminders of Mom’s recent passing and the reality of Dad’s slide back into the booze bottle.
Sitting in on dozens of funerals lets the teen examine the intricacies of mourning. He always leaves before the post-funeral meal and questions about how he knew the deceased… except that one time when Lovey stirred up a memory.
How do you say goodbye for forever?
Is a memory picture as real as a photograph?
Moving on – can it ever be done?
As Matt and Lovey spend time together on unusual dates, a few things about death, life, and living begin to make just a little more sense. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)
The snow-laden landscape speaks,
