Narrated by Justine Eyre. Eyre's squeaky, creaky voice seems just right for Mimi, the youngest in the family, especially in sensitive and emotional moments. ( )

Mimi is a story about a girl that loses her mother because of a car accident. This book shows how a young girl deals with the death of her mother and the grief that she lives with. ( )

Hace muy poco que la madre de la pequeña Mimi murió. Todos en su familia están tristes y abatidos. Papá ya no sonríe, y las pizzas de la cena siempre se le queman. Sally se viste toda de negro, como su estado de ánimo, y guarda un terrible secreto. Conor apenas habla, toca la batería por las noches y no deja dormir a los vecinos. Y hace meses que nadie saca a pasear a Bengala, la perrita. Además, Mimi está cansada de que su compañera Sarah le haga la vida imposible por ser «distinta». Todo parece desmoronarse. Pero poco a poco la familia irá recuperando la fuerza para atravesar el duelo, precisamente gracias a esos pequeños y no tan fáciles retos que nos impone lo cotidiano.

Beautiful. Simply beautiful. This is a great title for pre teen children dealing with the death of a parent. Even if you do not know anything about how children deal with grief, it is still a excellent read. ( )

Mimi and the rest of her family are lost after the sudden death of their mother 150 days ago (Mimi keeps careful track of the time elapsed since her mother was hit by a car while biking). Her father seems almost catatonic and only stirs himself to serve burned pizza for dinner, her sister is acting out and even dabbling in shoplifting, and her brother plays his drums until he finally collapses in the early hours of the morning. Concerns about bedtime, homework, nutrition and dental health are nonexistent, and even though their grandparents and aunts help out regularly they tend to indulge them rather than try to restore order in their lives. Mimi narrates their goings on, and her innocence and worry come through clearly yet in a sweet, understated way.

Fortunately, a long term substitute teacher replaces Mimi's previously pregnant teacher, and while she at first seems too demanding she turns out to understand exactly what Mimi needs. Also, a crisis occurs with Mimi's older sister which finally spurs her father to action.

An interesting side note about this book: Though Mimi lives in Ireland, she is Chinese. However, it isn't until the very end of the book that the reader discovers that Mimi is adopted while her siblings were not. That quietly added complexity to the grieving process for Mimi and gave the reader even more to think about. I was very impressed with how the author subtly introduced powerful themes such as that one. While it was definitely a tear-jerker at times, it was not dark or melancholic throughout. I highly recommend this book. ( )