For a novel dealing with as potentially grim a subject as a teen-age girl's death from cancer, Phoenix Rising is impressively tasteful and upbeat. It is also informative in that it sets forth clearly the many ways people react to death—both when facing it themselves or when responding to the death of a friend or family member. Grant's thoughtful presentation of such issues could lead to a number of valuable discussions. Indeed, aside from a few minor expletives and a little petting, it is hard to imagine anything in Phoenix Rising offending anyone—except, perhaps, the young urban reader who lives so close to the ongoing death-byviolence found in our inner cities that he or she will find death-by-cancer in a comfortable California suburb relatively inconsequential.