Mick Harte Was Here By: Barbara Park

This childrens' novel is told from the voice of a young teenage girl. She tells that story of her brother's death one day after school while riding his bike without a helmet. I read this story when I was younger and loved it, so I wanted to read it again. I think the author does a very good job of keeping the book interesting. My first thought when I began to read the book was a thought of doubt. I had doubts about whether children between the ages of eight and twelve should really be reading books about death. I really liked how the author made all parts of the story very real. All of the events and issues that the family of the boy who had died went through were very realistic. The author did a very good of explaining all of the characters in a in which I could easily create my own mental image of them. I realized that this book does a very good job of explaining the grieving process for children. If there is a child that has lost a loved one this would be a very good book for them to read, so that they could see that their feelings are very normal. This book is also a good way to teach helmet safety to students that may be at the age where they think that are just too "cool" for helmets.