SuitabookMy Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece
Annabel Pitcher
- Reading
- Consider reading alongside the child rather than rushing through it. Pause after difficult family or school scenes, name the feelings involved, and discuss prejudice separately from the behaviour of individual characters.
- Themes
- Grief and remembrance: Rose’s death remains central to the family, with her ashes kept in an urn and the living children affected by the adults’ grief. The story presents grief as painful and limiting, while also making room for understanding and recovery.
- Prejudice and friendship: Sunya is Muslim and becomes Jamie’s friend, while Jamie’s father blames Muslims for Rose’s death and school prejudice is also reported. The book takes a critical view of this.
- Family responsibility and recovery: Jamie and Jasmine are affected by their parents’ separation, absence and grief; Jasmine and Sunya support Jamie, while the father may recover. Adult failures are shown as damaging, but the story gives children meaningful solidarity and suggests that change remains possible.
- Worth knowing
- The emotional burden is substantial: bereavement, parental separation, alcohol misuse, neglect, bullying and racist blame are all present. The treatment is described as painful but also humorous, compassionate and ultimately hopeful.