All the Forever Things

Gr 8 Up—If there's one thing Gabe knows she can count on, it's that she and her best friend Bree will never grow apart. Dubbed "Graveyard Gabe" by the obnoxious Bryce Johnson because of her family's funeral home business, Gabe thrives on her weirdo status—helping her parents out with funerals and cadavers, endlessly browsing vintage thrift shops with Bree, and absolutely loathing smug-faced Bryce. It's a comfortable world for Gabe until Bree becomes the object of Bryce's affection. Soon her friend is giggling and blushing instead of scorning. While Gabe attempts to choke down her hatred for her longtime nemesis, the new addition to their junior class, Hartman, may just be the brooding distraction she needs from her otherwise crumbling social life. Perry manages to give the whiny Gabe enough quirks to make her life interesting. Bree is a much more sympathetic character, balancing her gritty home life with the shock of the most popular boy in school showing her attention at the possible expense of a friendship. The plot becomes too predictable at times—disasters on prom night offer a convenient close to the friendship struggle. The life of a teenage girl who works in a funeral home initially seems like a compelling premise, but unfortunately Perry does not deliver a strong narrative to support the characters.