Death

= Death, Dying and Grief =

**Thirteen Reasons Why / Jay Asher / Reading level: Ages 12 and up / Publisher: Razorbill / ISBN: 159514188X**

Hannah Baker has killed herself, but not before leaving behind a set of cassette tapes which explain to thirteen different people the role they played in her ultimate decision.

Key Themes: Death, Suicide, Bullying, Gossip



**On Borrowed Time / Paul Osborn / Reading level: Ages 12 and up / Publisher: Dramatists Play Service, Inc. / ISBN: 0822208474**

Fearing that his orphaned grandson Pud would be given to a greedy relative if he dies, Gramps traps Mr. Brink (the personification of Death) up anapple tree. With Death indisposed, life goes on even for those who are suffering.

Key Themes: Death (old age), personal sacrifice

**Autobiography of My Dead Brother / Walter Dean Myers / Reading level: Ages 14 and up / Publisher: Amistad / ISBN: 0060582936**

Living in the inner city, where death is a daily reality, Jesse comes to the realization that his best friend Rise is changing into the type of person that they both once despised. Despite their growing apart, Jesse chronicles Rise’s ascension and fall through his illustrations.

Key Themes: Death, Murder, Urban Life



**Before I Die / Jenny Downham / Reading level: Ages 14 and up / Publisher: Ember / ISBN: 0385751834** **[|Contested Book Glog]**

16 year-old Tessa has an ever-evolving list of things to do before her body is ravaged by leukemia. Some things, like losing her virginity are surprisingly simple (though ultimately humiliating), while other things, like finding true love are a little more difficult.

Key Themes: Death, Cancer, Teen Pregnancy

**Tommysaurus Rex / Doug TenNapel / Reading level: Ages 12 and up / Publisher: Image Comics / ISBN: 1582403953**

After witnessing his dog die in a traffic accident, a young boy learns about death, grief and forgiveness when he is sent to his grandfather’s farm for the summer. There he stumbles onto a million-year old secret hidden in an abandoned mine – a living, breathing tyrannosaurus rex!

Key Themes: Death, Grief, Forgiveness, Sacrifice

**ACTIVITIES**

1. Have your students brainstorm a list of euphemisms used when talking about death (i.e., kicking the bucket, pushing up daisies, passing away, etc.), paying particular attention to any used within their readings. Discuss why they think we have created so many terms which might keep us at arm’s length from the reality of death.

2. Journal Activity - Have your students keep track of how many times the subject of death comes up in a day, whether on television, video games, books or their own conversations. Is the subject more pervasive then they realized?

3. Give your students a few examples of obituaries from the daily paper. Using these as reference, have them write an obituary for one of the characters in the book they have read (whether that character died in the book or not).

**RELATED TEXTS** This is just a small list of the many ways in which these books can be related to the mountains of other available texts which deal with the issue of death.

**Thirteen Reasons Why (Suicide)** Romeo and Juliet-William Shakespeare The Bell Jar-Sylvia Plath Dead Poets Society (Film) ‘night Mother (Play)-Marsha Norman

**On Borrowed Time (Personifications of Death)** Masque of the Red Death-Edgar Allan Poe Sandman (Graphic Novels) - Neil Gaiman Discworld Novels (series)-Terry Pratchett Grim Fandango (Video Game)

**Autobiography of My Dead Brother (Tragic Death/Murder)** A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London-Dylan Thomas Titus Andronicus/Macbeth-William Shakespeare

**Before I Die (Terminal Illness)** Mom’s Cancer (GN)-Brian Fies Brian’s Song (film) Why, Charlie Brown, Why?(Picture Book)-Charles M. Schulz

**Tommysaurus Rex (Loss of a loved one/pet)** Our Town(play)-Thornton Wilder Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night-Dylan Thomas Old Yeller (film) Bambi (film)