What is Goodbye? [Hardcover]

Nikki Grimes (Author), Raul Colon (Illustrator)

Book Description

Grade Level: 3 and up

Jerilyn and Jesse have lost their beloved older brother. But each of them deals with Jaron's death differently. Jerilyn tries to keep it in and hold it together; Jesse acts out. But after a year of anger, pain, and guilt, they come to understand that it's time to move on. It's time for a new family picture-with one piece missing, yet whole again. Through the alternating voices of a brother and sister, Nikki Grimes eloquently portrays the grieving process in this gem of a book that is honest, powerful, and ultimately hopeful. Nikki Grimes is the distinguished author of more than two-dozen children's books. She received the 2003 Coretta Scott King Award for her novel Bronx Masquerade and a 2003 Coretta Scott King Honor citation for Talkin' About Bessie. Many of her books have been cited as Notable Books by the American Library Association, including Come Sunday, a picture book in verse; Something on My Mind; and Meet Danitra Brown, which also won a Coretta Scott King Honor. She lives in southern California.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-8–Grimes's novella in verse is a prime example of how poetry and story can be combined to extend one another. When their brother dies, Jerilyn and Jesse cope with the anger, confusion, and the silence that grief brings to their family. Jesse's rhyming verse faces his older sister's free-verse comments on her experiences. When Jesse hits a home run in a league game soon after his brother's death, he glows, "I took off around the field,/legs pumping like lightning!/I slid into home plate clean./Man, I'm so cool,/I'm frightening!/...What am I supposed to do,/spend each minute crying?/I wish I could please you, Mom,/but I'm sick of trying." Jerilyn muses, "It's his right to smile,/isn't it?/To be delirious?/So what if I don't understand?/This ghost town,/draped in shadow,/is desperate for/a few more watts of light." Grimes handles these two voices fluently and lucidly, shaping her characters through her form. Colón's paintings in muted colors combine imagism with realism to create an emotional dreamscape on nearly every page. The clean design combined with the book's short, easy pace and small size give readers a comfortable place from which to listen to the characters as they make their way from "Getting the News" to "Anniversary," and finally to "Ordinary Days." The book closes with a poem in two voices, and Jesse and Jerilyn come together for a new family photograph. "Smile!"–and readers will. Fans of Vera B. Williams's Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart (Greenwillow, 2001) will appreciate this powerful title.–Nina Lindsay, Oakland Public Library, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 4-8. At the funeral for her older brother, Jaron, Jerilyn is furious that "no one tells the truth": "Dead is dead. / Not 'gone away.' / Not 'lost.' / Not 'on a journey.' / Not 'passed.'" Her younger brother, Jesse, is angry, too, but he's mad at Jaron: "You left me . . . I hate you for that!" In poems that alternate between voices, Jerilyn and Jesse describe their complicated, private thoughts as they grieve for their beloved brother. Grimes often chooses rhymed couplets for Jesse's voice, and the singsong sounds and tight rhythm create a young tone that's indicative of Jesse's age but, nonetheless, feels distractingly at odds with the somber subject and raw emotions--feelings that Grimes gets just right. Moving and wise, these are poems that beautifully capture a family's heartache as well as the bewildering questions that death brings, and they reinforce the message in Grimes' warm author's note: "There's no right or wrong way to feel when someone close to you dies." Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; 1 edition (April 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786807784
• ISBN-13: 978-0786807789
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,673,380 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nikki Grimes conveyed the fire-in-the-belly fervor of a Harlem girl who knows she was born to write in Jazmin's Notebook, a Coretta Scott King Honor Book. In My Man Blue, a Booklist Editor's Choice and Newsweek Children's Books of the Year selection, her artful words expressed a boy's journey from skepticism to trust. And now with Bronx Masquerade she presents a rich chorus of eighteen voices, singing openly about ideas, feelings, and questions--things that open minds, invite debate, provide release. A recent Booklist review proclaims: "As always, Grimes gives young people exactly what they're looking for--real characters who show them they are not alone."An accomplished poet, novelist, journalist, and educator, Ms. Grimes was born and raised in New York City and now lives in the Los Angeles area.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Admirable job, April 26, 2006

By 

James Smith - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What is Goodbye? (Hardcover)

I have mixed feelings about this book. Grimes certainly does a wonderful job of showing how adults often sugar coat death for the sake of children. Death is a part of life so it is important to be realistic about that with them; however the book is also slightly on the somber side and for a book that is targeted specifically to children ages 4-8. On the other hand, my creative writing teacher once told me that the any subject can be discussed in a children's book if it is done correctly. Therefore I must say Grimes done an admirable job overall.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Didn't enjoy book, April 24, 2006

By 

TeeDiva "Tiff" (Washington,DC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What is Goodbye? (Hardcover)

I really didn't enjoy reading this book. It dealt with a dead in the family. It might prove a good way for children to learn and come to accept that death is apart of life, but I really didn't enjoy it. I found the book depressing, but the prose was without fault. The book itself is very good but I think the subject matter is one that children might have a hard time wrapping their heads around. The book is comprised of poems told from the point of view of Jerilyn and Jesse, a brother and sister who are realizing that their brother is gone and they will never be a whole family again until they can start to heal.

5.0 out of 5 stars Well Done, February 22, 2008

By 

Emma Hubbard (OR, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What is Goodbye? (Hardcover)

I found this book the other day and wished it had been around ten years ago when I lost my older brother. The emotions are very real, as are the reactions; I found similarities with both siblings' methods of dealing with a huge loss.
I would recommend this book more for a someone dealing with a loss than for just pleasure reading, but either way, it is a great insight.