Funerals & Fly Fishing

by Mary Bartek

Book Overview

I start up the street toward my grandfather's house. Just how weird is it that I, Brad Stanislawski, am walking toward a funeral home of my own free will? Where do you fit in when you're oversized, underappreciated, and faced with a name like Stanislawski? Brad Stanislawski is looking forward to summer vacation, if only to get away from the classmates who make fun of his size (it's not his fault he's so tall) and his last name (Stan-is-lousy being...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805074090
• ISBN13: 9780805074093
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
• Length: 148 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.8" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 8 to 14 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 9

Customer Reviews

Chrissy's Review

It's the last day of school in Pennsylvaina for Brad. His mom tells him that she is taking a summer vacation. His mom sends Brad across country to Colrado to stay with his grandfather. His grandfather owns a funeral home, Brad stays there and eats frozen dinners, then has fun at a football game. A boy named Pat tells Brad that his grandfather has a bag of scalps. Brad finds them and they end up being a bag of fly tying things. They go to a church and set up for the St.Mary's Festival. Brad eats food he has never heard of before and he learns how to Polka dance. He also plays Chuck-O-Luck, a gambling game, with his grandfather and Mike. Later that night Mike had Brad call his mom then they went to the hospital. When they got there they went to see grandfather. Brads grandfather ends up being in the hospital because he fell at the festival going from the Chuck-O-Luck to the church basement to get something to eat. This was a very exciting book!!!

Feel-Good Book for Young Readers and Families

I found this book to be a charming and well-written story of a lovable and misunderstood young boy. Bartek's descriptive yet undaunting writing style makes her characters warm, realistic, and easily-relatable. I don't think there are many people who could read this book and not remember the awkwardness of early young adulthood; growing into oneself yet with the excitement and hope of a child. I would recommend the story to any young reader or their family at any level of ability.