Phoenix Rising, or How to Surprise Your Life

Helen's death at eighteen from cancer shatters the lives of her parents and siblings, especially younger sister Jessie who tries to cope with her feelings of pain and confusion by reading pages from Helen's diary

Grade 8-10 A candid, sensitive portrayal of the grieving process and the effect of the death of a family member on that family. Seventeen-year-old Jessie cannot adjust to her eighteen-year-old sister Helen's death. Jessie experiences pain, anger, loneliness, nightmares, confusion, and withdrawal. The family is shattered. Its new dynamics are realistically revealed, with the already strained relationship between the oldest child, Lucas, and the father becoming explosive. In a wonderful counterpoint to Jessie's grief, Grant reveals the dead Helen through her diary, discovered by Jessie. Helen's feelings as her cancer progresses range over a broad spectrum from morbid despair to soaring hopea hope made all the more poignant to readers who, like Jessie, experience the immediacy of the diary with the knowledge that Helen has died. The intensity of the novel doesn't slide into melodrama or preaching; neither is it unrelieved. Humorous situations and dialogue lighten the mood, as does Jessie's final and slow growth toward acceptance of her loss. Jessie is a believable character, not readily forgotten. Grant's style is both accessible and lyricala perfect complement to her treatment of the subject matter. This is a fine addition to the growing collection of young adult books on death. Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, Maine
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Set in the months following her sister's death from cancer, this novel explores Jessie's grief and her reconciliation with the loss and reawakening to life. Jessie, 17, is in therapy, haunted by panic attacks and nightmares in which she tries to find her sister. Although torn by the tragedy, her family tries to help Jessie, but she retreats into her room, unable to cope. In the end, while her sister's last diary and old boyfriend help, it is Jessie herself who makes herself go on. Unlike some of the other books that deal with the issue of teenage cancer, this story has the genuine and unsentimental ring of honesty. The dead girl is not a saint, and her fate is pathetically all too common. Grant's exploration of Jessie and her family's survival is thought-provoking and satisfying. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.