A Happy Little Book about Death: Bodies From the Ash

Reading List
Written By Rebecca Grabill
Bodies From the Ash

Bodies From the Ash

Bodies From the Ash: Life and Death in Ancient Pompeii by James M. Deem. Houghton Mifflin, 2005.

Details must make sense and matter to the story. Does it matter that eighty-one loaves of bread were baking? I’m not sure. Regardless, more notes:

  • I’ve noticed that the writing style is not very different between books for YA and MG. There’s no obvious attempt to limit vocabulary between this and, say, the book on Marian Anderson, The Voice that Challenged a Nation. 
  • Interesting how despite being a vision into ancient times there are abundant details. Especially science integration on how the flows worked and how the heat seared flesh from bone, boiled blood, etc. Vivid and creepy—perfect for nine-year-old St. Nick who swiped this book and now has it squirreled away in his room.
You may also like...
Who Doesn't Love a Plague? A book by Jim Murphy
Who Doesn't Love a Plague? A book by Jim Murphy

Seriously, An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 was entirely fascinating. Like brain porn or something. I love medical weirdness and plagues and boils and gross stuff. So this book had me from the title.

A Book of Nine: We Are the Ship by Kadir Nelson
A Book of Nine: We Are the Ship by Kadir Nelson

In We Are the Ship Nelson combines fabulous paintings with rich text full of voice for a truly interesting look at the Negro League of baseball. The paintings are gentle, respectful, full of love with absolutely amazing use of light.

All Books are Not Created Equal
All Books are Not Created Equal

I'm going through our curriculum's book lists to see what I can get at the library and what we ought to purchase.

Lenten Meditation - A Book by the Man with Two First Names
Lenten Meditation - A Book by the Man with Two First Names

A book for those of us who seldom (if ever) experience a “summery” spirituality. Marty turns to the Psalms which are overwhelmingly wintery and seldom mention the life to come, something I’d never noticed before.

Not About Music
Not About Music

Dr. Rubin, an influential sociologist and psychotherapist, has collected stories of her experiences as a therapist and recorded them here. Both an instruction manual and a fascinating set of case studies, this book provides endless insight into the therapeutic process and human nature. Her storytelling is superb, her love...

How to Build a Mosque
How to Build a Mosque

The intro is sort of dry, but the melding of fiction and nonfiction with fascinating detail on construction held my interest to the end. Yet why was there such a need for bathing? (I know it’s ritual bathing, but the text doesn’t tell me this.) There’s a ton of info on engineering, but not much...

Collection of Poems, linked: Carver: A Life in Poems
Collection of Poems, linked: Carver: A Life in Poems

Would it be admitting ignorance to say I don’t like poems I don’t understand? I mean, I sort of understand “The Perceiving Self,” but I mostly don’t. It makes me wonder...

On Homesick
On Homesick

The story of Fritz’s childhood in China. A memoir for children full of fun stories and written in an accessible fairy-tale tone. Rich detail, vivid storytelling, a likable protagonist. There is very little difference between...

You Mean Women Won Rights? News to Me.
You Mean Women Won Rights? News to Me.

Now here is a compelling and well-told story! Kamma never loses her narrative thread, she includes quotes and details, and she keeps the details to those that ground the story or move it forward. She, in short, finds a plot and...

Another Reason My Yard is Full of Holes: How to Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the World
Another Reason My Yard is Full of Holes: How to Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the World

Second person, a how-to booklet on digging to the center of the earth and beyond. Fact meets fun. The fantasy element combined with scientific detail make this a favorite and true classic. But hey, my copy didn't come with a CD!

That aside...

Rebecca Grabill

Rebecca has been writing since childhood, her first book about a kitten published between homemade cardboard covers in second grade. Although she studied religion and philosophy in university, she continued writing, earning an MFA from Hamline University and publishing multiple picture books (no longer with homemade covers) and a collection of poetry with a variety of New York and independent publishers. She has also published a wide array of fiction, essays, and poetry in magazines and journals and photographs for Getty Images. She balances writing with homeschooling the younger of her six children, launching her young adults, church activities, and overseeing a small flock of chickens in rural West Michigan.

www.rebeccagrabill.com
Previous

Like Sitting on a Cloud and Flying: Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik
Next

I'm Leaving On a Jet Plane