NOTES LEFT BEHIND

In the pantheon of horrors a parent can envision, the ultimate is the death of a child. Brooke and Keith Desserich open up their personal journey through this nightmare in the heartbreaking chronicle of 5-year-old Elena's final days of struggle with a fatal brain tumor. Keith himself delivers the introduction and afterword, lending an even greater level of intimacy to the journal. Narrators T. Ryder Smith and Coleen Marlo’s presentation of the parents' wrenching emotions enhances the poignancy of the family's ordeal without descending into the maudlin. The audio version's only shortcoming is the listener's inability to see Elena's drawings and read her notes, which are reproduced in the print version. M.O.B. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2010]