Teeny Little Grief Machines by Linda Oatman High (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Teeny Little Grief Machines by Linda Oatman High Karen Coats High, Linda Oatman Teeny Little Grief Machines. Saddleback, 2014 [243 p] Paper ed. ISBN 978-1-62250-883-9 $9.95 E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-61247-998-9 $12.95 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 7–10 Sixteen-year-old Lexi hates her life. She lives with her alcoholic father (when he’s not in jail), her high school dropout stepmother, and her eight-year-old brother Blaine, who is autistic and has ADHD and developmental delays. Their family would also include her infant sister, but she died at three weeks old from SIDS. Lexi is still processing her grief over her sister’s death when her beloved guidance counselor leaves and Lesi is forced to take care of one of those almost-real electronic babies for her Life Skills class; added to everything else, these stressors prove too much for her and she ends up hospitalized for depression. The attention of caring adults prompts her recovery, and she ends her year with renewed hope and the promise of a boyfriend. This hi-lo verse novel employs carefully crafted figurative language gauged for accessibility. Internal rhymes, short lines and stanzas, concrete sensory images, and intentional manipulation of spacing and fonts spin reluctant readers through Lexi’s grief spiral, tracing her struggles with guilt and feelings of anger and abandonment, and highlighting responses that many teens will relate to as she acts out through self-harming and inappropriate behavior. Her talent for art allows for the use of color symbolism to carry throughout the book, introducing yet another layer of literary reading in an accessible way. Teachers and counselors looking for a redemptive read for troubled, low-achieving students will have much to work with here. Copyright © 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois