Do Fish Sleep?

This heartrending story by German writer Raschke is narrated by 10-year-old Jette, who describes the death of her terminally ill six-year-old brother Emil in unvarnished prose ("He lay there completely still. And pale, like yogurt"). Her parents are too devastated to offer much comfort. Earlier on, when Emil wasn't as ill and they were on vacation, Jette asked her father whether fish could sleep. "Dad gave me a funny look and mumbled something. I saw that he didn't know." It's an early hint that the parents she depends on are as lost as she is. Another time, Jette and Emil talk frankly about death, and she offers Emil a version of Heaven that he likes: "pizza heaven, where he can eat as much pizza as he wants all day." Cartoonish drawings by Rassmus contribute to the straightforwardly painful mood, as when Jette is seen in the back of her car on the way to the funeral home with Emil's seat empty beside her. Brutally honest about the suffering that follows the death of a young sibling, Raschke's narrative is at once excruciating, honest, and compelling. Ages 8-12. (Oct.)

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Praise for Do Fish Sleep? from Germany: "Jette was ten last Monday. Ten. 'That is a one with a zero after it, ' says Jette. Jette's dad says you call that 'double digits'. It's a strange feeling, somehow, to be double-digit, thinks Jette. 'There are even people who are triple-digit. A hundred years old. And even more! Like those giant tortoises at the zoo.' Jette's brother Emil only lived to be six. That's just single-digit. Jette tells us what it was like when Emil fell ill and suddenly wasn't there anymore. She remembers the times before that, happy family holidays, the usual teasing between siblings and all the questions she asked her parents to which they never had an answer. Can blind worms sneeze? Why is the sun so hot? And what is 'dying'? What happens to us when we are 'dead'? Is death really the 'big brother of sleep'? And anyway, do fish sleep too? And will the angry black clouds that Jette has been painting for a year lighten up one day? Do they have to? Jens Raschke has written an undogmatic, sometimes light-hearted and sometimes sad play for one performer about one of the last taboo subjects of our day - a child experiencing and coming to terms with death. The play addresses children and adults, siblings and parents, pupils and teachers. It is not about answers, but about the way we deal with life's small, great and ultimate questions." —Theater im Werftpark, Kiel
"In all its seriousness, 'Do Fish Sleep?' is also intended to have its light aspects. And much more than telling us about the death of the little boy, it tells of his big sister's grief." —Kieler Nachrichten, 25.01.2012
"To write a stage play for children about a child's death is a delicate business. Jens Raschke has made a very good job of this difficult task. With sensitivity and a sense of proportion, he addresses the big, ultimate questions surrounding the taboo subject of death in his play for one performer "Do Fish Sleep?" [...] The changes of mood, often coinciding with changes of roles, are effective and convincing. Minimal props ensure additional dynamism in this monologue about death that is so full of life." —Kieler Nachrichten, 31.01.2012