Walk Softly, Rachel is a beautifully written book that is narrated by two separate characters. As Rachel narrates the events of her life in present tense, the similar experience is told by the voice of her deceased brother, via his journal. The two weave together to form the entire story of a family ripped apart by grief.

Rachel is a fourteen-year-old girl who lives in the shadow of her dead brother’s memory. Her parents have never been the same since Jake’s death, as if they died along with him. Yet they cannot let go. They even keep his room exactly the way they always have, as a shrine to him.

Rachel’s best friend has just moved away, and in her loneliness she goes into Jake’s room and finds his diary. Her brother was supposed to be this perfect boy, handsome, intelligent, going places. The diary shows a far different side to her brother, one who is insecure and vulnerable, who bows under the pressure of so many people believing in him. She learns of his friendship with Fisher, whom he idolizes clearly beyond friendship. As she reads his private thoughts she is able to make more sense of all of the things that are happening in her own life. She starts to understand how perceptions of people can be so damaging. She is able to understand how the love and encouragement of parents can often be painful when it is about what the parents want, not the child. Through the experiences of her friend Bowman, Fisher, Jake, and her own personal experiences, Rachel finds a place of self acceptance and an understanding of how to forgive and let go.

Walk Softly, Rachel is heartbreakingly honest in a softly blunt way. It somehow manages to illuminate many sad truths about parents and children with out sugar coating, and yet the tone is so delicate, that the truths are not difficult to receive. Five Stars. Ages 13-20.

When fourteen-year-old Rachel reads the journal of her brother, who died when she was seven, she learns secrets that help her understand her parents and herself. ( )

As Rachel begins to face the problems of growing up she finds her dead brother's diary and begins to explore her family's past and present. It took me a while to warm up to the story but once I did I enjoyed it. ( )