This is the third book I’ve read this week that had a
drowning in it. This is another story where the sibling feels the drowning is
his fault and where the parents deal with grief in different ways. Jude’s dad
jogs to try to forget and his mom self-medicates. At the end of the school year Jude gets a job
and meets Becca. She is easy to talk to and so he shares his grief with her. Then he is hit with another tragedy when he
loses a close friend in a car accident.
Once again this is a story about dealing with grief. So many times
people shut themselves up to grief. This story is divided into two parts:
Before and After. I felt like the second half was better, stronger than the
first half. Would I recommend this to my students? You bet. Can they get it
from my shelves? No. This is another one that had to be pulled due to district
guidelines. I still recommend it.