Mick Harte Was Here

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Summary: sad, heart warming, quick read
Review: Mick Harte Was Here was a very good book. It is guided towards readers 4th gr. through 6th gr. It was one of those kind of books were you can't put it down. I admit, it was a very easy read. I would recommend this book to someone who likes any kind of fiction, it would be liked by any type of reader. It is about the day a kid, an average kid who everyone would like, dies in a bicycle crash and is also about the effects on the whole Harte family after this tragedy. The reason he died, is do to a massive head injury, which would have been prevented if only he wore his bicycle helmet, but Mick thought he looked like a dork in one. This book is told by Phoebe, Mick's sister, who was most effected by his death because not only was Mick her brother, but her best friend. She tells her every emotion, and tell about what it was like at school. Mick's parents also are very much effected, his dad goes unshaven and dirty, his mom just sits around in her pajamas all day doing nothing, and they are full of grief. Phoebe can't stop talking about Mick, driving her mother crazy and making her cry every time his name is said. Phoebes dad regrets the fact that he didn't force Mick to wear his helmet, which he can't get over and is angry with himself about. To find out more about what they are going through and to see how this sad book ends, read it.

Rating:
Summary: Compelling...A sad, yet funny tale of "the victim's sister."
Review: Mick Harte was just your average kid...was. Was until that fateful day that changed the Harte's lives forever-the day Mick Harte died...Phoebe Harte is Mick Harte's sister. She tells a story of the kind of kid everybody liked-a practical joker; a good brother; an OK student. And she tells the story of herself, dealing with the trajedy of her brother's sudden death-her father is an unshaven, no-self-esteem creature, her mother a zombie terrified by her once-loved son, herself angry at her so-called "friends," and angry at Mick for ruining a perfectly good life. I give it ****, and it has a little of everything in it-sadness, love, humor, and regular fiction. So go ahead and read this sad little book--its worth it.

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Summary: Mick Harte was Here Review
Review: The book "Mick Harte was Here"was a very good book, I would
recommend this book, especially to someone that has lost a sibling or a family member.
This book takes place in a small town. The book is about Phoebe's brother, Mick Harte, the two were very close.But they lost touch after he died. He died of a head injury, because he was riding his bike home from school and he wasn't wearing a helmet, so when he crashed into the semi-truck, he died.
Pheobe, was very lost without her brother. He meant a lot to her.Phoebe had to do a report of her choice, she chose to do do a report on Mick. She got a few things that once belonged to him, including the helmet that he didn't wear during the accident. Then she explained why she chose each of those items.
When she got to the helmet, which she saved for last she started to cry, because it brought back all their memories together, and how he'd still be alive if he just would have followed the rules and wore his helmet.
This book was an awesome book, I just didn't want to put the book down. It made me want to read more books by, Barbara Park.

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Summary: Nataly's essay about MICK HARTE WAS HERE
Review: This book is MICK HARTE WAS HERE. I want to tell everyone this book is sad and funny. What I like most about Mick is that he dressed as Thomas Crapper for trick-or-treating. Some people don't know about Thomas Crapper. He is the man who invented the toilet. I like the name of the dog Wocket because Mick couldn't pronounce his r's when he was three. The dog's name was supposed to be Rocket.
The sad part is that Mick dies. Mick died from a bicycle crash because he didn't wear his helmet. Mick's family was like zombies. They wouldn't even eat in the dinner table because they saw the empty chair and they missed Mick. The dad didn't even iron his pants, and his mom didn't even change clothes. She didn't talk to her daughter, either.
At the end of the book Phoebe went to the soccer field to sit there, when she saw a stick. Phoebe thought was a perfect size and small enough to carve the letters into the concrete so they could stay forever. She wrote the letters big enough to see them: MICK HARTE WAS HERE. That was the saddest thing I ever heard, and I want to tell everyone you should wear your helmet, if not, every day there will be deaths. This is a great book for everyone.

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Summary: I laughed, I cried...
Review: This is one of the most outstanding books dealing with the death of a child (and the family he left behind) that I have ever read! Right from the start, we are told that Mick will die because the narrator (his sister) doesn't want to use his death as a tear-jerker. After that, the book ranges from horrifying to sad to hilarious. (I always laugh out loud when the story of the monkey in the driveway is told -- read it and see if you don't crack up!)Park captures the pain of losing a sibling perfectly without being cloying or portraying the dead child as perfect. The family is REAL: they speak like real people, fight, laugh, cry, love, hurt, and heal like humans... this isn't a paper family

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Summary: Easy But Fun Summer Reading
Review: This novel is about a girl named Phoebe telling the story about her brother Mick's death. This book makes you laugh but also cry. Mick died in a bike accident leaving only Phoebe and her parents to deal with this great loss. Mick's death was very hard for Phoebe to deal with especially when thinking about the memories of her borther. Throughout this novel Phobeb tells all about what it feels like to lose someone in your family.

I thought that this novel was a good, fun, and enjoyable book to read. The book was especially funny when Mick and Phoebe wrote fart in the wet cement. It was very sad at the end when Phoebe wrote MICK HARTE WAS HERE close to the spot of the accident. If you are looking for a easy and fun book to read chose Mick Harte Was Here.

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Summary: Mick Harte Was Here
Review: When I was a kid I rode my bike all the time. I rode it all around my block and up and down my street. I rode it with my dad and brother to the local high school where we'd play a makeshift game of bike tag. This was all in the 1980s and I have delightful memories of the time. Sure, there was the occasional scare. Once I rode into a street without looking and a car had to stop quite short to avoid hitting me. My dad wasn't too thrilled about that, but nothing bad happened and it wasn't as if I was punished. And not once, NOT ONCE, did I ever wear a bike helmet. At the time, I probably had some vague sense that I was invincible. Today, I look at that near miss with the car and silently shudder. Today kids know about bike helmets and most of them wear them. But there's nothing like a book like, "Mick Harte Was Here" to kinda drill the point home. I'm not saying that this book is just a good public safety message. I'm saying it tells a compelling story that will probably encourage your kids to take a little more care of their lives than if they hadn't read it in the first place.

"So this isn't the kind of book where you meet the main character and you get to like him real well and then he dies at the end", says narrator Phoebe Harte. Mick Harte is dead, to begin with. In a straightforward voice, thirteen-year-old Pheobe tells of how her brother's death was an accident in the purest sense of the word. He was on his bike, he hit a rock, and he smashed into a passing truck. Instantaneous head wound. Instantaneous death. But before you get to that you get to see a little of Mick on that last day. You see how he messed around with his sister and how they had a mild fight that morning. You get a sense of his sense of humor and wacky style. Without really meaning to, you discover that you really like Mick. And now he's dead. With the barest minimum of text, author Barbara Park shows exactly how one family chooses to deal with Mick's death. Pheobe adjusts better than her parents, but she still has a great deal of difficulty figuring out exactly where Mick is. Fortunately, by the end of the book she's reached a kind of peace. A slow understanding that sometimes this is the way things are. And as a reader, you feel good about that. Sad, but good.

Barbara Park's real strength here is the age group she's written this tale for. This is a kind of young reader chapter book, just perfect for fourth and fifth graders. Park's Phoebe has a definite dark sense of humor. For example, after she remarks that the only upside to someone's death is that you have no appetite she points out that she lost some weight just in time for the funeral. Says Phoebe in a bleak comedic voice, "Nature's real thoughtful that way". "Mick Harte Was Here", is ultimately hopeful, though. For people who have always associated Miss Park with her pre-eminently popular "Junie B. Jones" series, they may find themselves a little shocked to realize that Park can be a deeply profound author when she chooses. Death isn't glossed over here. There's a satisfying moment where Phoebe takes on a teacher who keeps talking about the girl's "loss" and how she's "lost" a sibling. As Phoebe is quick to point out, no one here is lost. Mick's dead. But by the end of the book, she's come to accept that. And to find a good way to grieve.

It's difficult locating well-written books on death for kids in this reading age group. Most of the stuff you're going to find is going to concentrate on dead pets or dying horses and the like. Few writers have the authorial guts to take on the death of a child. Louisa May Alcott did, but she's one of the few. Now Barbara Park has come to join her. This is no "Little Women", but it's a good read and a true account of how a family must stay together in the time of a crisis. It's not going to answer any questions for kids about death. It'll just tell them how some people deal with it. And that's enough.