DEATH AND BEYOND : A Book Review
© James Watkins
While researching for material for an article to answer the questions that teens had about death and dying, I discovered an exceptionally well-written book.
I was so impressed with the book that I have abandoned my planned article for providing a review of the book instead.
James (Jim) N. Watkins, the author of Death & Beyond, began writing about death as the editor of his high school newspaper.
Jim is one of those rare persons that can actually recall his experiences from adolescence. He uses his memories of writing obituaries for his school publication to create four fictional personalities.
His fictitious journalism characters Kevin, Kathy, Nate, and Lori are woven, in and out, throughout the book as they investigate the facts surrounding the deaths of their fellow classmates. The use of these characters by Jim Watkins provided several purposes.
The fictional story gave readers a welcome break from the serious nonfiction portions of the book, which at times could be rather depressing.
In reading about the feelings of the fictitious characters, teens were presented with a safe vicarious experience from which they could begin to investigate their own feelings and beliefs.
The continuing narrative, written for and about teens, skillfully holds the examiner's attention and encourages them to finish reading the entire book. The conversations between these fictional teens, offers insights for parents into how their own children may think and feel about death and dying topics. This may aid the parents in ways to begin conversations on difficult subjects with their own children.
Just how did Jim Watkins know the questions that teens had about the subject of death anyway? Was he relying only on his remembrances of how he felt as a young man?
The answer to those questions spoke to his well-thought out and planned research methods. I found his example of preparation as instructional as the information contained in the book he produced. Jim received his answer by way of a survey questionnaire.
The following is a quote from the Introduction by James Watkins' in his book ("Death & Beyond"):
I was so impressed with the book that I have abandoned my planned article for providing a review of the book instead.
James (Jim) N. Watkins, the author of Death & Beyond, began writing about death as the editor of his high school newspaper.
Jim is one of those rare persons that can actually recall his experiences from adolescence. He uses his memories of writing obituaries for his school publication to create four fictional personalities.
His fictitious journalism characters Kevin, Kathy, Nate, and Lori are woven, in and out, throughout the book as they investigate the facts surrounding the deaths of their fellow classmates. The use of these characters by Jim Watkins provided several purposes.
The fictional story gave readers a welcome break from the serious nonfiction portions of the book, which at times could be rather depressing.
In reading about the feelings of the fictitious characters, teens were presented with a safe vicarious experience from which they could begin to investigate their own feelings and beliefs.
The continuing narrative, written for and about teens, skillfully holds the examiner's attention and encourages them to finish reading the entire book. The conversations between these fictional teens, offers insights for parents into how their own children may think and feel about death and dying topics. This may aid the parents in ways to begin conversations on difficult subjects with their own children.
Just how did Jim Watkins know the questions that teens had about the subject of death anyway? Was he relying only on his remembrances of how he felt as a young man?
The answer to those questions spoke to his well-thought out and planned research methods. I found his example of preparation as instructional as the information contained in the book he produced. Jim received his answer by way of a survey questionnaire.
The following is a quote from the Introduction by James Watkins' in his book ("Death & Beyond"):
"Is there really life after death?"
That question ranked number one when I asked nearly one thousand junior- and senior-high students to complete these two statements:
A question(s) I have about death is:
A question(s) I have about the possibility of life after death is:
The top question was asked by one out of ten students,
followed by
"Do you come back as someone or something else?"
"Why do people have to die?" ranked third.
"What is death like?" and "Does death hurt?"
The copyright of the article DEATH AND BEYOND : A Book Review in Death & Dying is owned by James Watkins. Permission to republish DEATH AND BEYOND : A Book Review in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
