Funeral Girl

  • Interest Level: Grade 8 - Grade 12
  • Reading Level: Grade 6

Sixteen-year-old Georgia Richter feels conflicted about the funeral home her parents run—especially because she has the ability to summon ghosts.

With one touch of any body that passes through Richter Funeral Home, she can awaken the spirit of the departed. With one more touch, she makes the spirit disappear, to a fate that remains mysterious to Georgia. To cope with her deep anxiety about death, she does her best to fulfill the final wishes of the deceased whose ghosts she briefly revives.

Then her classmate Milo’s body arrives at Richter—and his spirit wants help with unfinished business, forcing Georgia to reckon with her relationship to grief and mortality.

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978-1-7284-5800-7
$14.99
978-1-7284-6820-4
$24.99
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Interest Level Grade 8 - Grade 12
Reading Level Grade 6
Genre Young Adult
Category Diverse Books: LGBTQIA+, Diverse Books: Mental Health & Neurodiversity, Diversity, SEL: A Self-Awareness, SEL: B Self-Management, SEL: C Social Awareness, SEL: E Responsible Decision-Making, Social Emotional Learning
Copyright 2022
Publisher Lerner Publishing Group
Imprint Carolrhoda Lab ®
Language English
Number of Pages 272
Publication Date 2022-09-06
Text Type Fiction—Paranormal
BISACS YAF058050, YAF045000, YAF058140
Dewey [Fic]
Dimensions 5.5 x 8.25
Lexile 720
Features Author/Illustrator biography, Awards, Reviewed, Teaching Guides, and eSource

Author: Emma K. Ohland

Emma K. Ohland (she/they) is an author who has been telling stories since before she knew how to write them down. She grew up in the middle of a cornfield in Indiana, but her imagination often carried her away to other worlds. She graduated from Purdue University with a B.A. in English literature. Her first YA novel, Funeral Girl, was selected as a 2023 Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year. She lives in Texas with her partner, their cat, and their dog.

Lerner eSource™ offers free digital teaching and learning resources, including Common Core State Standards (CCSS) teaching guides. These guides, created by classroom teachers, offer short lessons and writing exercises that give students specific instruction and practice using Common Core skills and strategies. Lerner eSource also provides additional resources including online activities, downloadable/printable graphic organizers, and additional educational materials that would also support Common Core instruction. Download, share, pin, print, and save as many of these free resources as you like!

Funeral Girl

Sixteen-year-old Georgia Richter feels conflicted about the funeral home her parents run—especially because she has the ability to summon ghosts. With one touch of any body that passes through Richter Funeral Home, she can awaken the spirit of the departed. With… View available downloads →

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Funeral Girl: An Interview with Author Emma K. Ohland

Sixteen-year-old Georgia Richter feels conflicted about the funeral home her parents run—especially because she has the ability to summon ghosts. Funeral Girl follows Georgia as she reckons with her relationship to grief and mortality. Today author Emma K. Ohland joins us on the blog to… View →

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Awards

  • YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers Nominee, Nominated, 2024
  • Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year, Winner, 2023

Reviews

Booklist

“[G]ive Ohland’s first novel high marks for its unusual premise and vivid characterization of its imperfect protagonist.” — Booklist

Nita Tyndall

Funeral Girl is a touching debut about ghosts, grief, and the relationships we have with people both living and dead.”—Nita Tyndall, author of Who I Was with Her

Saundra Mitchell

“An extraordinary debut; an extraordinary new voice.”—Saundra Mitchell, author of All the Things We Do in the Dark

Mindy McGinnis

“A courageous consideration of death and dying for teen readers, tackling the unanswerable and the unknowable.” —Mindy McGinnis, author of The Last Laugh and Be Not Far from Me