My Presentation and "Elsewhere"

I will be presenting next week on the importance of multicultural literature in the classroom with a focus on African American lit. African America lit and how it effects African America male identity is a particular interest of mine, so I decided to briefly restate some of the major reasons why we must incorporate a variety of diverse texts in the classroom and then focus on what I know best: African American literature.
This presentation fits both into my final project and the conference paper I am presenting next Thursday. So, all of you will be my guinea pigs!!! I would appreciate any and all feedback you can provide.
For this week, I read a book I was dying to read, "Elsewhere." This is about a fifteen-year-old girl who dies and awakens to find herself on a cruise ship to elsewhere. Liz is in denial of her circumstances for a while, however, the people around her are extremely patient and comforting when she faces the fact that she is dead. Upon arriving at elsewhere, she is greeted by her grandmother whom she has never met.
Liz is very much apposed to everything in elsewhere for quite a while. She is angry that she will be aging backwards, because on Earth she wasn't old enough to drive, attend the prom, etc. The book subtly deals with issues of teenage heartbreak, depression, and even dependency. Liz's necessary high is in the form of viewing her old life through binoculars, which she cheats her grandmother to finance.
In the end, Liz must accept her new life and begin looking at the positive aspects of it. She works her way through the depression, and comes out a stronger person? ghost? on the other side. For me, this novel was pretty emotional and I have a feeling it will be for anyone who has lost a close loved one and wishes they could communicate with them once more. -Definitely an interesting read.