Opening paragraphs............................

       Even now, so long after she died, even now it's still difficult to go through all the little objects of her life that she left behind.  There is not that much that a child leaves, and Alex lived such a short time:  small parts of 1971 and 1980, and all of 1972 through 1979, inclusive.  She was born, diagnosed, lived all she could, and died before there was time for her to be laden with all the formal artifacts - letters and numbers and citations and all that grown-up bric-a-brac that comes with adult convention and ceremony.  But there is not that much for a child.  Why, some stranger coming across Alex's stuff would think she must have spent most of her life drawing.
-Frank Deford,  Alex:  The Life of a Child