If Only

( 4 )

Overview

A stunning debut about one girl's journey through loss and grief.

Corinna's world is crushed after her mother dies of cancer. How does she get through the funeral, trays of ziti, a father who can't communicate, the first day of school, Mother's Day, people who don't know what to say, and the entire eighth-grade year? Despite her alienation from many of her peers, including her best friend, she succeeds in finding support. She dares to bare her innermost fears, hurts, and wishes,...

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If Only

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More About This Book

Overview

A stunning debut about one girl's journey through loss and grief.

Corinna's world is crushed after her mother dies of cancer. How does she get through the funeral, trays of ziti, a father who can't communicate, the first day of school, Mother's Day, people who don't know what to say, and the entire eighth-grade year? Despite her alienation from many of her peers, including her best friend, she succeeds in finding support. She dares to bare her innermost fears, hurts, and wishes, and even allows herself to have a flowering crush on a boy in the school band. She also finds out deep secrets about her mother which she never knew. It's a year that will change Corinna's life forever.

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Editorial Reviews

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)
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780545234993
  • Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
  • Publication date: 3/1/2012
  • Pages: 336
  • Sales rank: 230,750
  • Age range: 10 - 14 Years
  • Lexile: 810L (what's this?)
  • Product dimensions: 5.78 (w) x 7.48 (h) x 1.12 (d)

Meet the Author

The emotional power of IF ONLY is informed by Carole’s more than twenty years of experience as a clinical social worker, working with scores of children who have had a parent die, as well as adults whose childhoods were shaped by parent loss. Carole is currently an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology at George Washington University School of Medicine. This is her first novel. She lives with her family in Maryland.
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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 5
( 4 )
Rating Distribution

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(3)

4 Star

(1)

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Sort by: Showing all of 4 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted August 1, 2012

    T.awesome

    I havent finsh but it is very good . So u should read this.

    1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 24, 2013

    I love if only!

    If only is a very good book even though i have not finished! READ THIS BOOK AND I MEAN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted September 14, 2012

    Ryoko

    Ykckcgck

    0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 31, 2012

    recommended for everyone

    Mrs. Gaithner must be a warm hearted, compassionate person. I learned through the view of a teen-age girl how cruel ordinary words of condolence could be to a left family. I was glad at the end that the girl finally started to overcome the sorrow. I just wish the author had confirmed her knowledge of Japanese custom of mourning before publishing the book. The girl was impressed by the Japanese way of mourning of the deceased but the description of the mourning ritual is an inaccurate mixture of Shinto and Buddhism. It was as unimaginable as a Muslim lady waring a Christian cross.

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Sort by: Showing all of 4 Customer Reviews
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