If Only

Publishers Weekly

Debut novelist Geithner, a clinical social worker who was 25 when her mother died, brings personal and professional experience to this story of 13-year-old Corinna’s struggles to carry on in the year after her mother’s death from cancer. Sophie, a musician, dies just months after her diagnosis, leaving Corinna and her goodhearted father to awkwardly navigate their pain and sorrow through school, work, everyday responsibilities, and important anniversaries. Once ordinary comments—“whose mother is going to drive us home from the talent show audition on Thursday night?”—now stab at Corinna. Geithner, wife of secretary of the treasury Timothy Geithner, expertly depicts Corinna’s journey through the stages of grief via the teenager’s straightforward and honest voice. Members of Corinna’s school support group share their stories of parents’ deaths, opening the story up to other grief experiences; supportive faculty, extended family, and a trip to Sophie’s beloved Japan help Corinna and her father find their way toward a life that is rich and joyful, while grounded in poignantly loving memories. Ages 10–14. Agent: Cathy Hemming, McCormick & Williams Literary Agency. (Mar.)

Children's Literature - Jodell Sadler

When thirteen-year-old Corinna Burdette loses her mother to cancer, she has to attempt to concentrate and feel like life goes on. This novel shares, with strong and poignant details, the difficulties of pushing forward with your life while working through unbelievable grief. This novel may not be ideal for someone who has lost a parent, as the first two-thirds of the novel is a tad too depressing, the last third makes up for it. Once Corinna finds herself in a grief group at school, she begins to really focus on how numbing other student's losses are and how she can finally begin to heal. In a sign of great struggle and growth, Corinna learns to make room to celebrate her mother's life, and realizes how her own life is better for having experienced it with her mother. This book clearly identifies what does not work when trying to help a student or friend through a horrible loss (a father killed at gunpoint, another lost in combat, and others lost way too soon): complaining about a mother in front of someone who has none, or whispering "that's the girl whose mom died," or not talking about it at all. This novel reminds readers how hard and heart wrenching working through grief can be. Reviewer: Jodell Sadler

School Library Journal

Gr 5–8—Corinna Burdette is dreading the start of eighth grade. She is especially anxious about the "how I spent my summer vacation" essay that accompanies the beginning of all school years. She spent her summer watching her mother waste away and die from cancer. During the year that she recovers from her mother's death, Corinna navigates old and new friendships, joins a grief group, and discovers secrets about her mother's past. Geithner gives authentic voice to grieving teens. While the novel may have a narrow audience and its cover is unappealing, it will resonate with the right readers. Corinna is a very real middle schooler.—Leah Krippner, Harlem High School, Machesney Park, IL

Kirkus Reviews

A detailed exploration of grief in one year of an eighth-grade girl's life. It's only been a few months since Corinna's mom died of cancer, and her daily life is consumed with reminders of that fact. She can't make herself throw away the expired containers of her mom's favorite yogurt and still dials her mom's cell phone number to hear her recorded message. She struggles with her friends' casual mentions of their own mothers and doesn't feel that she can talk to her bereaved father. But after joining a counseling group at school and discovering her mother's old journal, Corinna begins to heal. As the anniversary of her mom's death approaches, Corinna is able to face it armed with cherished memories and the anticipation of a family trip to Japan, a place that was special to her mother. Geithner was a clinical social worker before she was an author, and it shows. Corinna moves through the stages of grief with textbook precision, and too often her conversations with her friends or father sound like they come from an afterschool-special script on losing a family member. However, young teens who are dealing with this issue will easily identify with Corinna's anger, confusion and eventual acceptance. Better for bibliotherapy than recreational reading. (Fiction. 10-14)