Johnny Kellock Died Today

This is another one of my outside reading books. "Johnny Kellock Died Today" is about a little girl Rosalie, who ambitiously tries to find out where her cousin Johnny has dissappeared to. I was expecting him to die or something, but he does not. In reality, Johnny has just gone away from home due to an abusive father to try and find a better life for himself elsewhere. Rosalie's father, Norman, knows all along about Johnny's disappearance, but keeps money for Johnny incase he needs it.
The "Gravedigger" is a neighbor named David, who got his nickname from his job in the cemetary at night. Rumor has it that his mother died and he dug her up once. But once David is hired for summer help by Rosalie's father, he becomes Rosalie's sidekick in helping her find her cousin. As their relationship grows, she finds out that his mother drowned and he is not weird afterall, just a normal kid trying to deal with regular life issues like herself. Once Rosalie hears her cousin went missing, they embark on a series of journeys to the Ship Yard and elsewhere to find Johnny.

The book deals with issues coming from Rosalie being as young as she is. She tries to understand why the older people like her parents, don't tell her about things she feels she is old enough to understand, such as Johnny's decision to leave home. She calls it "sugar coating" the issue. They try to tell her everything is ok when she knows it is not. David is there to help her deal with the issues, and I even think a little romance is blooming. By the end of the book, the family comes together and finds that Johnny's birth certificate says "Johnny Kellock Died Today." This is not true because Johnny calls home that day. He just put it there so people would stop looking for him. Rosalie confronts her parents about telling her why he left, and they sort things out together.
This book was not my favorite of all, but it does paint a very good picture of issues little children can face, and how it can affect their lives. And they do want to feel a part of what is going on in life.