  | Speechless Author: Schmitt, Adam P. | |
| Price: $6.50 | ||
Summary:
When his despised cousin Patrick dies, thirteen-year-old Jimmy is put in an impossible situation when his parents force him to eulogize Patrick at the funeral, but as Jimmy reflects on pivotal moments with his cousin, he gains a new perspective.
| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: MG Reading Level: 4.70 Points: 8.0 Quiz: 199278 | Reading Counts Information: Interest Level: 6-8 Reading Level: 4.20 Points: 14.0 Quiz: 75888 | |
Reviews:
Booklist (11/01/18)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 11/01/2018 Honesty isn’t always pretty, but it courses through Schmitt’s debut in more ways than one. Jimmy, 13, is already uncomfortable at his cousin Patrick’s wake, but that distress escalates to panic when Jimmy’s mother informs him that he has to speak at tomorrow’s funeral. As he stands in the funeral home, he racks his brain for a nice memory of Patrick—the cousin he hated—to use for his eulogy. The narrative dips in and out of the wake to follow Jimmy’s memories of his 13-year-old cousin, none of which is appropriate for a speech. The temperamental boy ruined every toy or occasion he touched, but Schmitt drops clues that place Patrick on the autism spectrum, sadly undiagnosed and untreated. Complex family relationships surface with humor and candor, with adults painted as flawed and prone to delivering sharp words or even a smack. All these elements combine to make the reader as uneasy as Jimmy, who, through his recollections, gains a better understanding of the boy lying in the coffin and, ultimately, of himself. - Copyright 2018 Booklist.
