Each Little Bird That Sings
by Deborah Wiles
Realistic Fiction
Juvenile Fiction
Grades 3-7
* * * Stars (Pretty good)
Comfort Snowberger’s family runs Snowberger’s Funeral Home Empire in Snapfinger, Mississippi. After her great great aunt Florentine passes away, the family has to attend its own services, and each of them deal with grief in their own way. For Comfort, she loves and misses her aunt, but because her aunt was older and was always expecting to go any time, her death was not a shock. Plus, Comfort is immersed in the business of death and funerals, and those kinds of events are familiar and comforting for her (she even writes her own obituaries!). But her best friend Declaration and her cousin Peach are a different story. The day of the burial is rainy and on the way to the gravesite, Comfort and Declaration exchange some fighting words and Peach and Comfort’s dog, Dismay, run off into the woods where they are swept away by the rising creek. Comfort tries to rescue them and has to make a terrible choice. Will she ever be able to forgive herself? Or Declaration? A quirky, funny, sometimes incredibly sad story about family, friendship, death, and life.
Reviewed by YA Librarian
