The most memorable passage is when Mick and Phoebe were fighting over a tattoo that came in the cereal box. Phoebe got Mick in a headlock then their father came in the kitchen wearing no pants. This is memorable because i can just see in my head their father going to the kitchen in on pants.

Mick Harte Was Here turned out to be one of those books I just shouldn't have reread, and I am almost too disappointed for words.

Back in eighth grade, I had a two-period block of English; the first period was dedicated to writing and language skills while the second focused on reading comprehension and literary analysis. In this later period, the teacher liked to set aside maybe five or ten minutes at the end of class to read a non-curriculum novel aloud. We spent most of the year slowly chipping away at The Princess Bride (and yes, we watched the movie when we finally finished), but we also squeezed in at least one other. One of those books was Mick Harte Was Here, a very short novel--less than a hundred pages long--about an eighth grade girl's grief over her younger brother's unexpected death.

I mostly forgot about the book after eighth grade; the extent of my memory was that we'd read a book about a girl who, after her brother's death, reminisces about the time he told their parents that a monkey had carved the word "FAЯT" in their freshly-paved driveway. So when Mick Harte Was Here popped up in my Goodreads recommendations a year or so ago, I was totally shocked; I never thought I'd find that book again. Or even recognize it if I stumbled across it.

But yesterday, I finally sat down to reread it. It was definitely a mistake.

As it turns out, there's a reason I only remember the monkey scene. From there, it's all downhill. See, I've got a bit of a pet peeve for religious/spiritual themes in fiction, and whoa boy is Mick Harte Was Here a religious book. I definitely remembered that it was a book about grief, but if I'd remembered that it was a book about specifically Christian grief, I wouldn't have touched this thing with a ten-foot pole. I have zero interest in reading about a person's struggle to keep their faith in the light of tragedy. That theme does not appeal to me in any way, shape, or form, and frankly, I am horrified that this book was read in a secular public school with multi-faith attendance. What the hell was my teacher thinking?

Now, don't get me wrong. If you're into the idea of a MG book that addresses grief through a Christian perspective, this is definitely a spectacular book for you. It's well-written, it's emotionally poignant, and it's hilarious. It's just not for me. Highly recommended to any Christian children who might need some help getting through the loss of a family member... but definitely not recommended to members of other faiths, apatheists/agnostics, or atheists/antitheists. Alas.