{"id":6911,"date":"2016-04-05T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-05T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/booksyalove.com\/?p=6911"},"modified":"2016-04-05T12:00:25","modified_gmt":"2016-04-05T17:00:25","slug":"d-is-deaths-mysteries-sought-out-by-boy-in-the-black-suit-by-jason-reynolds-book-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/?p=6911","title":{"rendered":"D is Death&#8217;s mysteries, sought out by Boy in the Black Suit, by Jason Reynolds (book review)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/booksyalove.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Boy-in-Black-Suit.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-6947\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"6947\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/?attachment_id=6947\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/booksyalove.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Boy-in-Black-Suit.jpg?fit=232%2C350&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"232,350\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/booksyalove.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Boy-in-Black-Suit.jpg?fit=232%2C350&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-6947\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/booksyalove.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Boy-in-Black-Suit-199x300.jpg?resize=199%2C300\" alt=\"book cover of Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers | BooksYALove.com\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/booksyalove.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Boy-in-Black-Suit.jpg?resize=199%2C300&amp;ssl=1 199w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/booksyalove.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Boy-in-Black-Suit.jpg?w=232&amp;ssl=1 232w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" \/><\/a>Mom has passed on,<br \/>\nDad is laid up,<br \/>\nsadness just muffles Matt.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes his job at Ray&#8217;s Funeral Home is just being another mourner, hoping that shared <a href=\"https:\/\/hospicenet.org\/html\/teenager.html\" target=\"_blank\">grief <\/a>will ease the pain of losing his mother, but this one time, a girl challenges what Matt thinks about death, about memory&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Ask for this strong book at your <a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldcat.org\/libraries\" target=\"_blank\">local library<\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.indiebound.org\/indie-store-finder\" target=\"_blank\">independent bookstore<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Can grief be tucked away from the everydayness of living?<br \/>\n**kmm<\/p>\n<p><strong>Book info<\/strong>: The Boy in the Black Suit \/\u00a0Jason Reynolds [<a href=\"http:\/\/iamjasonreynolds.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">author site<\/a>]\u00a0 [<a href=\"http:\/\/books.simonandschuster.com\/The-Boy-in-the-Black-Suit\/Jason-Reynolds\/9781442459502\" target=\"_blank\">publisher site<\/a>]\u00a0 [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=sCIYzj3s4Wk\" target=\"_blank\">audio author video<\/a>] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.<\/p>\n<p><strong>My book talk<\/strong>: After Mom&#8217;s death, Matt&#8217;s job at his Brooklyn neighborhood funeral parlor gives him insight into grief and a startling revelation into the past.<\/p>\n<p>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&#8217;s recent passing and the reality of Dad&#8217;s slide back into the booze bottle.<\/p>\n<p>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&#8230; except that one time when Lovey stirred up a memory.<\/p>\n<p>How do you say goodbye for forever?<br \/>\nIs a memory picture as real as a photograph?<br \/>\nMoving on &#8211; can it ever be done?<\/p>\n<p>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 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.abookandahug.com\" target=\"_blank\">www.abookandahug.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mom has passed on, Dad is laid up, sadness just muffles Matt. Sometimes his job at Ray&#8217;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&#8230; Ask for this strong book [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[237,19],"tags":[10,90,22,4,11,20,5,37,16,18,40,43,49,184,15,21,35,33,3,8],"class_list":["post-6911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diverse-books","category-fiction","tag-a2z","tag-abandonment","tag-behavior","tag-belonging","tag-communication","tag-conflict","tag-coping","tag-death","tag-determination","tag-family","tag-fathers","tag-growing-up","tag-memories","tag-mothers","tag-relationships","tag-self-image","tag-surprises","tag-survival","tag-teens","tag-us-author"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6911"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6957,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6911\/revisions\/6957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booksyalove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}