At first glimpse Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze by Alan Silberberg is another title in the popular genre of humorous first-person school narratives. It has a funny title and is written in the voice of seventh-grader Milo, complete with cartoon spot illustrations supposedly drawn by the narrator. Milo has the usual problems of a new kid in school: he struggles to make new friends, to keep up with classes, and to get the girl of his dreams to notice him. But Milo has another problem besides having lived in five houses in the 12 years of his life. His mother is dead, and he is still coming to terms with her loss, especially since the new house stripped of all her former possessions makes it difficult to remember her. Milo musters his resources to try to reclaim the missing part of his life, but even this is a challenge when his father doesn't want to remember and his new friends can't help. 

Milo says, "My dad is always trying to get me on the 'same page' with the whole 'Life Changes' thing, which makes no sense to me. If you're supposed to accept that life is always changing and be fine that today may be okay but tomorrow might be the be the worst day in your life—EVER—then how do you do your homework? Why do you brush your teeth? And who's going to be there in the kitchen to make you pancakes and let you have a tiny sip of coffee (with tons of milk)?" 

This surprising theme of loss in an otherwise humorous book is simultaneously both the most rewarding and problematic aspect of Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze. We've been waiting a long time to see more humorous titles dealing with the topic of grief. Humor is a wonderful coping mechanism, and most juvenile titles dealing with death, even the best ones—Cynthia Rylant's Missing May comes to mind, not to mention the perennial favorite Bridge to Terabithia—tend to be sad or sentimental. However, the death of Milo's mother—while mentioned on the cover copy—may come as a bit of shock for readers looking for another humorous title in the vein of Wimpy Kid or Big Nate. Even I was surprised how his mother's death gradually emerges as the central theme of the book, with Milo facilitating his family's grief by finding objects that are similar to those belongings of his mother's that were discarded and insisting they celebrate Mother's Day by putting up pictures of her around the house. 

But there was another thing I really enjoyed about the book: the strength of the supporting characters. Even through Milo's sarcastic lens, the people reaching out to him in his life seemed more real and dimensional than the stock-comedy characters who appear in many children's books (this was especially true of the adult characters): his two friends; Milo's math teacher, who has a shaved head that Milo mocks and who refuses to let Milo fail and even takes the time to tutor him after school; and Milo's neighbor, Sylvia, who Milo regards as completely crazy but ends up being the person who most helps him understand his loss as she has lost someone of her own—her husband. Unlike Milo's house where there are no reminders of his mother, Sylvia's house has pictures of Paul everywhere: "That's how I keep him alive," Sylvia says. "By making sure I think about him every day." 

Best of all are Milo's friends Marshall and Hillary. Marshall always saves a seat for Milo on the bus. They spend a lot of time playing video games and getting “Freezies” at the local convenience store. Milo has the kind of friendship with Marshall where they can hang out and talk about anything that comes into their heads, or nothing at all. As Milo puts it, "the pauses are okay because neither Marshall nor I worry that the other one is using the blank spaces to think of a way to tell the other one what a loser he is." But the addition of Hillary, Milo's neighbor who initially annoys Milo by leaving notes for him by his locker, makes things even better. "With the addition of Hillary the whole thing changes... now it doesn't feel like two guys alone watching things explode on TV, it's three friends, which is the perfect number." Ultimately, Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze is both a humorous middle-school title and a book about coping with inevitable changes that are a part of growing up—whether its changing schools, making new friends, or losing someone you love.  

How do you cope with difficult changes in your life? What books have helped you deal with hard times? 

Sarah A. Wood, a reviewer for Teenreads.com and Kidsreads.com since 2003, is a lifetime reader and writer. She refuses to accept that there are people who don't like to read and stubbornly believes this is only because they have not met the right book yet.