FUNERALS AND FLY FISHING

An unexpected summer visit leads a lonely boy to uncover his roots and discover himself in this amusing, touching first-person narrative. As sixth grade ends, only-child Brad Stanislawski anticipates escaping bully classmates who call him “Stan-is-lousy.” Brad amuses himself drawing caricatures of his tormentors and schemes about changing his embarrassing last name. When his mother wins a free vacation alone, Brad finds himself on a plane heading for a rural Pennsylvania town he’s never seen to visit a grandfather he’s never met. Freaked out that his mother neglected to mention that his grandfather lives above the Stanislawski Funeral Home he operates, Brad gradually adapts to the routine of funerals, fly-fishing, pierogi, and polka. Along the way, Brad realizes he and his Polish grandfather have more in common than a last name and learns that being a “Stanislawski” isn’t so bad after all. Like Brad, readers will see there’s a lot more to funerals and fly-fishing than meets the eye. (Fiction. 8-14)