I was pretty excited to read Grave Matter by Juno Dawson ($15.95, PGC Books) to my nine-year-old son, 11-year-old niece and seven-year-old nephew. I even took the book on our recent camping trip. We didn’t get to it, which worked well as I then read it to myself first.

I am glad I did. Despite the larger font size, the pictures and the thinness of the book, Grave Matter, I don’t think, is for the younger age group as it’s quite dark and I would think would be a bit scary. (I would have been scared if I read it at that age, but perhaps that is just me.)

I, on the other hand, quite enjoyed the book and read it in about a day. I am putting it aside to read to my son when he is a bit older.

Grave Matter tells the story of Samuel, whose girlfriend Eliza dies in a car accident; he was the driver and it was his decision to head home despite Eliza’s pleas not to and the blizzard outside. Sam is heartbroken and makes a pact with the Milk Man to bring his soulmate back.

There is a lot going on in such a short book and while most would do anything to bring a loved one back from the dead, it was interesting to read what what Dawson feels would happen if you did so and what the cost would be if you attempted to change fate.

I also love the lesson in the book about choices and the importance of not doing anything wrong, but how you can make things right.

Hmmm, perhaps a great book for the younger set after all.

A copy of this book was provided by PGC Books for an honest review.

The opinions are my own.