The Death and Life of Benny Brooks: Sort of a Memoir

Long's heartening memoir portrays a boy facing challenging situations with hard-won hope and increasing maturity.

Sometimes biting, often intense, and marked by moments both of comical awkwardness and grace.

Long (the Junior Monster Scouts series) pulls from events in his childhood to deliver an ardent illustrated novel. A month after 10-year-old Benny's parents' divorce, Benny and his siblings have been living with their chain-smoking father, who recently learned that he has a lump on his lung. Both parents struggle to manage childcare on top of their own difficulties; Mom's new home lacks sufficient sleeping space for all three siblings, and Dad's cancer diagnosis impacts his ability to be present for his children. The family's interpersonal tensions result in emotional tumult for Benny, who starts lashing out in moments of intense anger. His parents sign him up for therapy, and as Benny begins being opening about his worries, he comes to terms with the new realities of his life. Dynamic, youthful-feeling pencil drawings by the protagonist--the sun is depicted as a quintessential semicircle on the edge of the page, and tree canopies are rendered using cloud-like shapes--permeate this slice-of-life narrative, allowing readers glimpses into how Benny views his circumstances. The characters' challenges are realistically handled, and painful moments are balanced with levying humor. Character skin tones reflect the white of the page. Ages 9-14. Agent: Paul Rodeen, Rodeen Literary Management. (Oct.)

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Praise for The Death and Life of Benny Brooks:

* Long is known for his wit, and it emerges in this captivating story as well, particularly in his expressive grayscale drawings, which appear throughout the book. The cartoonlike illustrations keep the tone from becoming unbearably dark, even when the topic is death.... Long's heartening memoir portrays a boy facing challenging situations with hard-won hope and increasing maturity.—Booklist, starred review