"In this graceful first novel, the funeral of one boy's grandmother excites a curiosity about death in three Japanese schoolboys . . . An offbeat and unsentimental coming-of-age story." -- Starred, Kirkus Reviews
"An eloquent initiation story that first touches and then pierces the heart . . . The passage of the time and the nature of mutability are poetically expressed in this warmly humorous narrative, deserving of equally high marks in kid appeal and literary merit." -- Starred, Publishers Weekly
"A book about death that espouses the pure joy in life." -- School Library Journal
