Our next joint review is a little different. Ronni shared a TikTok from WickedGenXer, who was discussing a traumatic book he remembered from his childhood. So of course we had to buy it and see just how traumatic it was. For science 🤷♀️
This book is meant for children in grades 4-5 and follows the story of Emily Taylor before and after losing her brother. So let’s dive in, shall we?
Book Stats
- Publication Date: 01/15/1983
- Format: paperback
- Chapters: 14
- Pages: 107
- Narrator POV: 1st person POV from the main character, Emily
Shayna’s Review
Book Rating: ⭐⭐/5 stars
Let me start by saying this book is highly rated on Amazon. It only has 22 reviews, but is rated at 5 stars. I don’t really understand how. This book is absurd. Granted, I’m 31 and not a child in 4th grade, but still. I do have a 3rd grader and I won’t be recommending this book to her. 😂
First off, Matthew is the brother of Emily but she refers to him as Monse, short for Monster because he’s supposedly just terrible. I didn’t understand that because yes, she’s a child and children often fight with their siblings, but in the book he seemed like a good brother. He tried to teach her how to improve her baseball skills and he apologizes several times when he hurts her. Her reaction to him seemed a bit intense (and this is coming from someone who has many siblings I’ve fought with over the years).
Next, it’s odd to me that once going up to the third floor where Matt’s room is, Emily suddenly couldn’t hear any outside noise. This was a point WickedGenXer made on his post, but it really is wild. Lawn mowers are loud and so is a child screaming. When Matt was mowing the lawn and getting run over, Emily should’ve been able to hear it. Not that she could’ve stopped it, but she still should’ve been able to actually hear what was happening.
So Matt died in a super horrific way (getting run over by a mower and bleeding to death after being attacked by sand wasps) and Emily finding him was, as expected, traumatic for her. She falls into depression and feels guilty. She doesn’t attend his funeral and just wants to sleep all day every day. What’s wild to me is that she’s taken to a psychiatrist and she goes from thinking she’ll never talk to him to suddenly spilling her guts and then everything is just okay.
I get that this book is meant for children so it doesn’t go into the complexity of grief and depression, but this feels like we just flipped a switch and went from depressed to fine in an instant. She’s gonna play baseball again and feels okay. It’s also crazy that everyone, including the parents, seem to just get over it and move on very quickly.
So yeah, this was absurd. I wouldn’t recommend this book to my children and I definitely won’t be keeping it in my library. But based on Amazon reviews, I’m the odd one out here. Feel free to give it a go!
My literal text review to Ronni after finishing the book:
And then I gave the book to Ronni to read, of course. Trauma is better when shared. 😂
Ronni’s Review
Book Rating: ⭐⭐⭐/5 stars
Trauma is better when shared! 😂 This is the kind of book I would have read as a child and had zero second thoughts about. I would have been younger than the target audience, though. I was reading Mary Higgins Clark in 4th grade.
ANYWAY! I agree, Monse seemed like a good brother. He gave her far more attention than many older siblings would have. Every family is different, though. I still don’t think she should feel guilty about not hearing his accident; she’s a child. They are notorious for being in their own world, not paying attention to anything around them. I do agree that it’s weird that she didn’t hear him screaming, though. It was not a time of noise-cancelling headphones.
I think it’s wild that the parents didn’t make her go to his funeral. Maybe that’s coming from a place where I absolutely would have been forced to go had it been me in that situation, I don’t know. I do feel as though that’s a huge piece of closure she might wish she had later in life.
I also was not pleased with the parents just leaving her with this new therapist guy!! Maybe the description was just too much but as nice as I think he was, he came off as a little creepy. Ah the 80s. What a time to be alive!
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