Putting Makeup on Dead People

Since Donna's father died, she prefers to go inside herself to a "quiet place.... the only spot I feel at home," until she finds another comfortable place%E2%80%94a funeral home%E2%80%94and decides to become a mortician. But even as Donna applies to mortuary school after high school and starts work at Brighton Brothers Funeral Home, she must learn to connect with the living, including her well-meaning but disapproving mother and an offbeat friend who may be crushing on her. Readers will find Donna's job choice intriguing, as well as the descriptions of her education, including restorative arts class, where "people in lab coats are working with what I think is clay, shaping it into things I have to squint to realize are parts of the human face." Violi's first novel is swimming in unusual characters, from the people%E2%80%94both living and dead%E2%80%94who pass through the funeral home, to the eccentric members of Donna's church drama troupe. These characters and their many plot lines distract from Donna's journey to embrace both those around her and those who have died. Ages 14%E2%80%93up. (May)