Straight Talk about Death for Teenagers

January 1, 2000
With brief entries such as "Accidental Death," "Self-Inflicted Death," "Talking," "Crying," and "Going Nuts," Grollman offers advice and answers the kinds of questions that teens are likely to ask themselves when grieving the death of someone close.

Copyright 2000 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 1993
Gr. 7-12. A frequent contributor to "USA Today," Grollman is also a prolific author of books designed to help people cope with personal trauma. Here, he validates the painful feelings teenagers experience following the death of a loved one, conveying a sense of the grieving as well as the importance of getting on with life. Although he does approach his subject from an unusual angle now and again (for example, he touches briefly on how the circumstances of a person's death--accident, suicide, AIDS, etc.--color the survivors' feelings), Grollman generally steers clear of deep discussion and personal testimony. That's the strength of his book and also what sets it apart from books such as Krementz's "How It Feels When a Parent Dies" (1981) and Gravelle and Haskins' "Teenagers Face to Face with Bereavement" (1983). Grollman puts his message right up front, delivering it via short bursts of text set out on pages that are left partially blank. While the text itself occasionally verges on the melodramatic ("You feel a dull ache. You are so alone"), the author's sincerity still comes across, and the unusual format makes his supportive remarks very easy to absorb. Grieving kids who find intense explorations of death simply too painful to manage may find that this book, which concludes with an 11-page write-in section, delivers the comfort they seek in manageable terms. ((Reviewed Apr. 1, 1993))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1993, American Library Association.)