“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