The End or Something Like That by Ann Dee Ellis

There isn’t any swearing, violence or sexual themes. Emmy is constantly looking for a way to communicate with Kim and is hopeful as she sees she can also help others. Emmy’s pain is raw as she tries to move on from losing her friend and dealing with real life, including her own insecurities and the trials of high school social life and new friend Skeeter.

Her father’s parents died in a car accident when he was 18, and he’s hopeful but not sure what to believe. Emmy isn’t sure what to think about life after death. The main storyline includes two days - the day before and the day of Kim’s death anniversary - and it’s intermixed with flashbacks from before Kim’s death. And then she also sees other people who are dead. On the day before the anniversary of Kim’s death, it’s not her friend Emmy sees, but instead her recently deceased science teacher at the teacher’s funeral. But 15-year-old Emmy doesn’t see her friend either time and feels guilty that she’s somehow failed. Emmy wasn’t so sure, but has tried, especially on both of their birthdays, at their agreed-upon place. In Ann Dee Ellis’ novel “The End or Something Like That,” Kim made Emmy promise to communicate with her after Kim dies. Ted Farnsworth about communicating with those who have passed on. And before she died, Kim was trying to find a way she and Emmy could talk after she dies. Ages 12 up.“THE END OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT,” by Ann Dee Ellis, Dial, $17.99, 352 pages (f) (ages 14 and up) It’s been a year since Emmy’s best friend, Kim, died of a heart condition. A hard-hitting story about remembering the dead while not forgetting the living. The Las Vegas setting powerfully contrasts the absurdity of life against the separation of death, and several truly uncomfortable scenes involving Emmy's classmates lays bare just how ill-equipped many people are to handle death. A consult with Ted Farnsworth, a dubious medium whose seminar Emmy and Kim had attended, builds confidence in the likelihood of it happening. Following Kim's collapse in the cafeteria, Emmy is mired in her pain, but when she starts seeing and interacting with her newly deceased earth science teacher, Emmy dares to hope a 'visitation' from Kim might be possible. Alternating chapters take readers between the present, with the one-year anniversary of Kim's death approaching, and flashbacks to the preceding months. You eat turkey burgers.' Writing in clipped, emotionally deadened prose that carries the weight of grief, Ellis (Everything Is Fine) catalogues 15-year-old Emmy's struggle with her friend's sudden death. 'When your best friend dies, things happen.

The End or Something Like That by Ann Dee Ellis