books about the author speaking schedule news contact home
     
   
 
the shrouding woman
Henry Holt Books for Young Readers
2002, ages 9 and up
ISBN 978-0-8050-6651-7
The moving story of a young girl's struggle to face her mother's death. Set in the mid-1800s, this beautifully written story, centered on the little-known practice of shrouding, touches on death and healing with sensitivity and quiet dignity.
  "She traveled to our small white house near the Iowa border on a buckboard, her green bag caked with the dusty road ... I knew that she was called 'the Shrouding Woman' because I'd heard Papa use those words to describe her. I didn't know what it meant but I knew it had something to do with death."
  It was once common practice for small towns to have a shrouding woman to help put their dead to rest. Still, when eleven-year-old Evie's Aunt Flo—herself a shrouding woman— comes to town, Evie knows little of a shrouding woman's ways and wants nothing to do with this aunt of hers, especially after her own mother's recent death. But as this mysterious woman slowly makes her way into Evie's life, her strong and sensitive presence brings far more than signs of death to a grieving girl's home.
Recommendations
  Booklist, American Library Association
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Horn Book
School Library Journal

VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates)
Washington Post Book World
Rebecca Caudill Nominee, 2005
Amelia Bloomer Project List, 2003
Read the reviews ... Discussion guide available ...
 
more >
Copyright 2002-2008, Loretta Ellsworth. All rights reserved. Please ask permission before using any photo or text on this website.