Friday, November 23, 2007

Novels about Death

I have just finished reading two books that deal with death and teens, and both books were wonderful. The first one, Whrligig, by Paul Fleischman was a short novel about Brent, who has gotten very drunk at a party, then is humiliated by a girl he thought he liked. He drives away recklessly, and decides to kill himself by crashing into the highway divider. When the accident is cleared, he has taken the life of an 18-year-old girl. Brent has to learn how to go on living with this terrible guilt, and on his journey makes some remarkable discoveries about life.

The second book that deals with death, Looking for Alaska, by John Green, is a well-written story of Miles and his friends at a preppie boarding school, and how they deal with Alaska's death. The five students have formed a close relationship, but when Alsaka is killed in a terrible car accident, Miles and the Colonel are left with the not-knowing why, and the guilt of their part in it. This book is funny, serious and a wonderful story of understanding and coping with the death of a dear friend.

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