That Summer

Johnston, Tony. That Summer. San Diego: Harcourt, 2002.
This book is spoken through the voice of a boy whose brother has Leukemia and the many trials and tribulations that the boys go through when they realize they only have one summer left together. The illustrations are colorful until the boy learns he is sick. At this point the pictures become more like old photographs. There is one colorful picture in the middle which depicts friends that came caroling in July to try to get the sick boy out of bed. Also the very last illustration is colorful and shows a boy (the brother who was not sick) with a shaved head holding a dog.
The author wrote the book after losing a brother herself, although she does not say specifically how he died. She also states that she wrote this book to “honor the courage and young people who died and of those who loved them” (back flap).
The book is one that does not explain about a specific illness besides mentioning having his head shaved, but rather the grieving and what the family goes through when finding out the boy, Joey, is dying. It also gives insight into how Joey takes everything with a sense of humor.
This is a great book for diverse literature because this topic can be really hard for children to talk about and this book can bring up the topic in a noninvasive and positive way. It talks about dying in a way that makes it seem real, but not too scary. It also is able to stimulate discussions about death that would help children talk about the fears they may have about death.