After Eli Hardcover – August 14, 2012

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From School Library Journal --------------------------- Gr 7 Up-Though it's been three years since his older brother was killed during the Iraq War, 14-year-old Danny Anderson is still coming to terms with this senseless tragedy. His parents can't offer solace because they're deeply mired in their own grief. As a means of coping, Danny changes his middle name to Eli to keep the memory of his brother alive, and he begins cataloging a Book of the Dead in which he lists the various ways people throughout history have died. Danny is transformed the summer preceding his sopre year when he meets 15-year-old Isabelle and her younger brother and sister, twins Jasper and Journey. He also finds comfort in his budding friendship with brainy classmate Walter. As he spends more time with this motley group, Danny feels uplifted and becomes more introspective about life and death. While processing his grief, he starts to realize the importance of moving forward ("Sometimes you have to destroy the past so that you'll have to learn how to live in the new world."). Flashbacks recalling Danny's life with Eli lend heartbreaking pathos to this story. Rupp's poignant bildungsroman is therapeutic, particularly for those readers who have experienced the unimaginable loss of a loved one.-Lalitha Nataraj, Escondido Public Library, CAα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. Read more ( javascript:void(0) ) From Booklist ( /gp/feature.html/?docId=1000027801 ) ---------------------------------------------------- *Starred Review* Three years after his much older brother, Eli, died as a soldier in Iraq, 14-year-old Daniel is still trying to cope with the loss while living in a household that has never healed. Throughout Daniel’s childhood, Eli had set out to teach him all that he needed to know but would never learn from their distant, demanding her. Now, over a summer marked by change, Daniel falls for sophisticated Isabelle, befriends a geeky classmate, outgrows a longtime pal, and works on a farm owned by his brother’s best friend. At summer’s end, Daniel’s realization that he is losing Isabelle opens the floodgates of grief and triggers a violent reaction that allows his family to move forward at last. Depicted only through flashbacks, memories, and conversations, irreverent Eli is one of the most vividly realized characters in this convincing cast. Each chapter heading features someone from Daniel’s personal Book of the Dead (Archimedes, Isadora Duncan, the Titanic victims) who come up in his writings, a thread of death that some might find off-putting. But the tone of this first-person narrative isn’t maudlin or morbid, it’s smart and searching, and the well-structured story quietly builds to a moving climax and a worthy, satisfying conclusion. Grades 5-8. --Carolyn Phelan Read more ( javascript:void(0) ) See all Editorial Reviews ( /dp/product-description/0763658103/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books&isInIframe=0 )