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Title details for Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles - Available

Each Little Bird That Sings

by Deborah Wiles
Kim Mai Guest
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
Ten-year-old Comfort Snowberger knows a thing or two about death. Her family owns the town funeral home and she has attended 247 funerals. She can tell you which casseroles are worth tasting, whom to sit next to, and whom to avoid at all costs. Number one on that avoid list Comfort's sniveling, whining, unpredictable cousin Peach, who ruins every family occasion.
So when Great-great-aunt Florentine drops dead–just like that–Comfort expects a family gathering to remember. What she doesn't count is: One, she has to watch over Peach after the funeral. And two, her best friend, Declaration, has suddenly turned downright mean. Now, even if it means missing the most important funeral of her life, all Comfort really wants to do is sit in her closet with her dog, Dismay, and hide. But life is full of surprises. And the biggest one of all is learning what it takes to handle them.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    December 13, 2005

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780739344774
      • File size: 149514 KB
      • Duration: 05:11:29

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • ATOS Level: 4.5
    • Lexile® Measure: 690
    • Interest Level: 4-8(MG)
    • Text Difficulty: 3

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Ten-year-old Comfort Snowberger's family has run the Snowberger Funeral Home in Snapfinger, Mississippi, for generations. Narrator Kim Mai Guest is Comfort, communicating all her heartache, humor, honesty, and heroism as she shares the story of one September filled with love and loss. Through tone and tempo, Guest assumes the voice of this young heroine. In the end, along with Comfort, we realize the truth of Uncle Edisto's motto, "It takes courage to look life in the eye and say yes to the messy glory." You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll embrace the "messy glory" and want to share this life-affirming gem with young and old alike. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      February 21, 2005
      "I come from a family with a lot of dead people," says Comfort Snowberger, introducing her clan, the proprietors of small town Snapfinger, Mississippi's only funeral home. Having attended 247 funerals by age 10, Comfort knows grief, but she's tested by the back-to-back deaths of Great-uncle Edisto and Great-great-aunt Florentine, whom she finds face down in the garden, expired. More trials come as her best friend abandons her while her nebbishy cousin, Peach, clings. Worst of all, when Comfort and Peach get caught in a surprise flood of the creek, Comfort forces Peach to let go of her beloved dog in order to save himself. Despite the three-hanky plot and Comfort's unvarnished view of death ("My parents smell like a mixture of gardenias and embalming fluid"), this is a funny book. Credit Comfort's refreshing naïveté. Her "Life Notices" (instead of obituaries) for the paper include lines such as, "people look forward to dying and coming to Snowberger's for their laying out" (even though the publisher keeps telling her, "Facts, Comfort, not opinions"). Repeating the winning formula she used in Love, Ruby Lavender
      , Wiles mixes letters, news reports, recipes and lists such as, "Top Ten Tips for First-Rate Funeral Behavior," into the narrative, making a difficult topic go down like lemonade at a picnic. Fans of Ruby Lavender
      will enjoy the overlapping characters and setting, but what they'll really want is a third book—where Comfort and Ruby get together. Ages 8-12.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      February 27, 2006
      Reading in the matter-of-fact, bright voice of precocious 10-year-old heroineComfort Snowberger, Guest gets the tone of Wiles's story just right from the opening line: "I come from a family with a lot of dead people." Comfort's experiences as a member of the colorful clan that lives in and runs the funeral home in tiny Snapfinger, Miss., provide her with a unique perspective on life and death. But things turn all topsy-turvy when the girl's beloved great-uncle and great-great-aunt die within months of each other and her best friend, Declaration, suddenly can't stand her. Great-great-Aunt Florentine's funeral proves the catalyst for several life-altering events for Comfort, her whiny, aggravating younger cousin Peach and all the Snowbergers. Guest relates the Southern-oddball charm and oft-precious details of Wiles's book without sounding too cloying; however, listeners may find Guest's variation of Peach's voice just as annoying as Comfort does in the text. And many listeners will be hard-pressed not to tear up when Comfort and her mother have a heart-to-heart in the local cemetery toward this satisfying tale's end. Ages 8-12.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • ATOS Level:4.5
  • Lexile® Measure:690
  • Interest Level:4-8(MG)
  • Text Difficulty:3

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