In this story, Evie, a girl who says
she doesn’t want any friends, develops a friendship with Oren, a boy whose
parents were killed in car accident. Evie’s family owns a funeral home and she
helps Oren explore some of his questions about dying. There are few sad
moments, but funny ones too. I loved so many things about this book – I
learned, I laughed, I cried and I wanted to read it again.
I especially loved the way this shows
how kids can work through and learn to accept sad things in life with the help
of friends. If you enjoy this book, also read Joanne Levy’s other recent book, The Sun Will Come Out. It’s another
wonderful read!
Connections: family, friendship, death, funerals, Jewish traditions, paper quilling,
Activities:
Literacy & Sharing Experiences – Put up a large
paper/bulletin board where students can add their thoughts and questions that
arise from reading. Invite classmates to post answers from their experiences or
research.
Literacy – Create an advice column! Make up three
questions/issues that friends might have problems with. Write answers or swap
with a friend so they can try to give helpful advice to solve the problems.
Personal Journal – Reflect on times when you were
and were not a good friend. When thinking about times where you were not a good
friend, think about what you might have done differently. Where might you need
help from others to solve a friendship problem?
STEAM -
Research paper quilling. Try to create an art project using the technique of
paper quilling. Could you create a different cover for the novel?
Resources:
Q & A with the author from the Orca Books blog
Lessons and activities about friendship from Teacher Planet
The Most Common Friendship Issues in the Classroom – We Are Teachers. Com
If students are experiencing grief or loss:
This website helps educators recognize grief and
suggests ways to help support grieving children, including children who have
experienced COVID-related loss
Children and grief resources from Scholastic
Resources from Winston’s Wish
Description from the publisher:
Evie Walman is not obsessed with death.
She does think about it a lot, though, but only because her family runs a
Jewish funeral home. At twelve, Evie already knows she’s going to be a funeral
director when she grows up. So what if the kids at school call her “corpse
girl” and say she smells like death? They’re just mean and don’t get how
important it is to have someone take care of things when your world is falling
apart.
Evie loves dusting caskets, polishing pews,
and vacuuming the chapel—and on funeral days, she dresses up and hands out
tissues and offers her condolences to mourners. She doesn’t normally help her
parents with the grieving families directly, until one day when they ask her to
help with Oren, a boy who was in a horrific car accident that killed both his
parents. Oren refuses to speak and Evie, who is nursing her own private grief,
is determined to find a way to help him deal with his loss.
Sorry for Your Loss by Joanne Levy
was published by Orca Books in 2021.
