The Funeral

Norma and her parents are going to her great-uncle Frank's funeral, and Norma is more excited than sad. She is looking forward to playing with her favourite cousin, Ray, but when she arrives at the church, she is confronted with rituals and ideas that have never occurred to her before. While not all questions can be answered, when the day is over Norma is certain of one thing — Uncle Frank would have enjoyed his funeral.

This sensitive and life-affirming story will lead young readers to ask their own questions about life, death and how we remember those who have gone before us. (From Groundwood Books)

• Sydney Smith and Joanne Schwartz's favourite Canadian book of 2018: The Funeral by Matt James
• The best Canadian YA and children's literature of 2018

More about the book

The Next Chapter12:56The Next Chapter's Children's Book Panel

Michele Landsberg and Ken Setterington give us their kids books picks: -"Becca Fair and Foul" By Deirdre Baker -"The Journey of Little Charlie" by Christopher Paul Curtis -"Wolf in the Snow" by Matthew Cordell -"Hello Lighthouse" By Sophie Blackall -"The Funeral" by Matt James -"Here So Far Away" by Hadley Dyer -"Don't Tell the Enemy" by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch -"Eat This! How Fast-Food Marketing Gets You to Buy Junk(and how to fight back)" by Andrea Curtis - non-fiction 9+

More books by Matt James