Waking the Dead and Other Fun Activities

In Waking the Dead, the family of 12-year-old Kimmy runs a funeral home. Kimmy’s mother and stepdad do not share any of Grandma’s DNA, but luckily Kimmy has inherited Grandma’s ‘gift’ of waking the dead. And Grandma has decided Kimmy is old enough to learn how to continue the tradition of granting a last request to the recently deceased sent to their funeral home. But Grandma – like her son, Kimmy’s birth father – dies, leaving Kimmy bereft.
When Kimmy hears that an unidentified boy about her age is in the town morgue, she feels obliged to hear his last request. One thing leads to another, and Kimmy ends up dealing with forces – possessed by an unknown evil witch – that seem stronger than her own. However, once the human ‘shell’ hiding the evil witch within is identified, Kimmy manages to overcome the witch with her own ‘magic’ as well as help from her recently deceased grandmother.

Kimmy is a relatively well-rounded protagonist. While a bit of a rule-breaker, she is devoted to continuing the family tradition, devastated by Grandma’s unexpected death, and eager to learn more about her birth-father (i.e., Grandma’s son). However, there are quite a few characters introduced throughout the novel, such as Dr. Wardwell, Tamsin, the family’s new funeral home helper hired after Grandma’s demise, and three people whom Kimmy ‘wakes’ from death and actually continue living! All of these individuals are given rudimentary introductions and character sketches.

Because the story ultimately turns into a fairly fast-paced whodunit, the lack of character development will likely leave all but the strongest young readers with a lot of questions near its otherwise exciting and unexpected conclusion.
A satisfying ‘Epilogue’ – as well as a cookie recipe – follows the conclusion.