Citation: Colman, P. (1997). Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts: A History of Burial. Henry Holt and Co. (BYR).
Annotation: The comprehensive journey through death, dying and humans’ traditions surrounding the mysterious passing of life.
Nomination (Accept or reject): Reject
While Colman’s book does a great job of providing young adults with a thorough understanding of all things concerning death, the book simply does not resonate with all readers or address a significant development issue for young adults necessary to yield this award. Though many people lose loved ones, thankfully, not many lose loved ones while they are still a young adult. As such, this book’s focus on the rituals of death and dying will not resonate with all of the young adult readers. This book would appeal to a small number of readers only. It is within the expectations for the non-fiction genre the title is placed into.
The organization of the book would benefit from further development – while it briefly talks about the impact of death in a family, it moves quickly into the “nitty-gritty” of body preparation, coffins and cremations, and then focuses back to burials and the implications of death. The research and accuracy of the facts presented seem accurate, however, without further research on my part, it would be difficult to tell. The information presented is very thorough and ranges from minutiae to very relevant. The quantity of the information can be overwhelming for many younger readers, and even some older ones, as each page is laden with text, photos and graphics. Unless the reader is extremely interested in the subject matter, the length of the book and the text heavy pages could discourage the reader from finishing the book. The narrative quality of the book is high, the format and language used are appropriate for the audience. The author does a fine job of connecting the awesome concept of death and dying to realistic examples and situations adolescents and young adults can grasp.
Genre: Nonfiction
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