Tuesdays With Morrie by Albom, Mitch. 1997. Tuesdays With Morrie. New York, NY: Broadway Books. 192 pages.

ISBN 0-7679-0592-X

Category/Grade Level: Coming of Age, Grades 9 and up.

Main Characters
Morrie Schwartz, a former professor at Brandies University, and his former student Mitch Album who is employed as a columnist for the Detroit Free Press.

Plot
Tuesdays with Morrie is a true story about an elderly man named Morrie Schwartz diagnosed in his seventies with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, AKA Lou Gehrig’s disease.  Morrie has always lived his life in his own fashion, taking the path less beaten, and continues to do so until his dying day.  Made famous for his positive attitude by Ted Koppel’s “Nightline” while dying a slow and extremely painful death, Morrie touched the hearts of Americans across the nation.  One of his former students sitting thousands of miles away in Detroit, Michigan came across this episode of “Nightline” by chance and most likely by fate.  This student, Mitch Album, decides to pay a visit to his favorite educator in quiet suburb of Boston, Massachusetts named West Newton.  A professor of Sociology for many years, Morrie begins again to educate Album, in what he calls his “final thesis.”  The old professor and the youthful student meet every Tuesday, staying true to the day of the week that they have always shared.  As the disease progresses, Morrie shares his outlook on such issues as family, love, emotions, and aging.  Although the cover states “an old man, a young man, and life’s greatest lesson,” Tuesdays actually provides numerous life lessons, and provides an eternal instruction from one of the greatest teachers who ever lived.

Touchy Areas
The issue of a slow and painful death, or death itself, may be difficult for students to deal with, especially if they have lost loved ones.  Morrie is also very keen to the idea of human touch and his fondness for affection with his sons and Album may be perceived with homosexual tendencies by a young audience.

Related Titles
The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Album, Brian’s Song William Blinn.

Evaluation
Tuesdays With Morrie is an amazing tale of a hero both in life and in death and I firmly believe that every person should listen to the wise words of Morrie Schwartz.  Although many students may have a hard time relating to death, as adolescents often feel a sense of invincibility, the messages of this book is essential.  Students and teachers, youthful teens and aging adults, would greatly benefit their daily lives from reading this simple text.  Through his short aphorisms and “can’t help but love” personality, Morrie Schwartz becomes somewhat of a father or grandfather figure not only to Album but also to the reader as well.  As the final pages grow thinner so does Morrie himself and the reader understands that their time with Morrie as well as his time on Earth will quickly pass by.  The most difficult part of reading Tuesdays is bidding farewell to the man we grow to love for welcoming us into his family.  Luckily, thanks to Mitch Album, we as readers have the ability to connect with the late Morrie Schwartz and hear his powerful words.  One thing that Morrie wanted more than anything else was simply to be remembered and with a text of this magnitude he surely won’t be forgotten anytime soon.  These words of power will reverberate as long as Tuesdays is in print and even long after, for the lessons Morrie offers are timeless and will likely to be passed down from generation to generation.

Overall Rating
11 out of 10. 

Reviewed by Lavender.