This heartrending story by German writer Raschke is narrated by 10-year-old Jette, who describes the death of her terminally ill six-year-old brother Emil in unvarnished prose (-He lay there completely still. And pale, like yogurt-). Her parents are too devastated to offer much comfort. Earlier on, when Emil wasn-t as ill and they were on vacation, Jette asked her father whether fish could sleep. -Dad gave me a funny look and mumbled something. I saw that he didn-t know.- It-s an early hint that the parents she depends on are as lost as she is. Another time, Jette and Emil talk frankly about death, and she offers Emil a version of Heaven that he likes: -pizza heaven, where he can eat as much pizza as he wants all day.- Cartoonish drawings by Rassmus contribute to the straightforwardly painful mood, as when Jette is seen in the back of her car on the way to the funeral home with Emil-s seat empty beside her. Brutally honest about the suffering that follows the death of a young sibling, Raschke-s narrative is at once excruciating, honest, and compelling. Ages 8-12. (Oct.)