Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune

Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune is a wonderfully engrossing book about a man named Wallace Price. Wallace is a mean man who owns one of the biggest law firms in the state. One day, Wallace unexpectedly dies from a heart attack and gets collected by Mei, a reaper. Mei takes him to meet a ferry person Hugo, who then can take Wallace to a better world.

Once Wallace arrives at Charon’s Crossing, Hugo gives Wallace a cup of tea. Hugo explains the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining depression, and finally acceptance. Wallace goes through all of them, some even multiple times, and really learns more about himself, and how terrible a person he once was. Wishing that he could show his old coworkers and wife how much he has changed.

What I really love about this book is how surprisingly smoothly Klune can integrate humor into a book about death, and how well Klune can teach kids and adults lessons to be who they really want to be while they have time to make an impact on the world.