Book excerpt: I start up the street toward my grandfather's house. Just how weird is it that I, Brad Stanislawski, am walking toward a funeral home of my own free will? Where do you fit in when you're oversized, underappreciated, and faced with a name like Stanislawski? Brad Stanislawski is looking forward to summer vacation, if only to get away from the classmates who make fun of his size (it's not his fault he's so tall) and his last name (Stan-is-lousy being their moniker of choice). So when Brad's mother announces that she's taking a summer vacation by herself and sending Brad across the country to stay with his estranged grandfather-who happens to be an undertaker-Brad thinks life couldn't possibly get any worse. Still, as Brad ought to know, first impressions can be deceiving, and a name can hold a lot more than embarrassment. What exactly does it mean to be Brad Stanislawski? In this thoughtful, funny first novel, Brad (with a little help from his grandfather) is about to find out for himself. Funerals and Fly Fishing is a 2005 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.