Each Little Bird that Sings by Deborah Wiles

Wiles, Deborah.
EACH LITTLE BIRD THAT SINGS
Orlando : Harcourt, 2005.
IL 3-6, RL 4.0
ISBN 0152051139

Ten year old Comfort Snowberger lives in a funeral home with a loving extended family. It’s a very busy place with flowers to arrange, special foods to cook, mourners to console and life notices (not obituaries) to be written. Her happy, contented world is shaken when first Uncle Edisto dies and then within months, great-great-Aunt Florentine dies. Beyond those tragedies her best friend, Declaration, is starting to hang out with two other girls from their class. Comfort learns that she will be responsible for keeping her younger cousin, Peach, calm at great-great-Aunt Florentines funeral. Peach is a special child who is very upset about the deaths in the family. Comfort objects but her mother reminds her of the family motto, “We live to serve”. On the way to the graveside, Comfort’s beloved dog, Dismay, and Peach are swept up in a flash flood. Instant decisions have to be made. Would you have done the s ame thing? (New Hampshire Great Stone Face 2007)