AfterMath

Twelve-year-old Lucy’s family moves to a new city right after the death of her younger brother, Theo. Her parents feel this will be a fresh start. Only Lucy finds they moved into the house of a victim of a horrific elementary school shooting. Lucy doesn’t know how to fit in with fellow classmates who have suffered such a loss. Her own parents are having issues dealing with the death of her brother too. Lucy finds comfort in math. When she joins an after-school mime class she gets to know other students. Through it all, Lucy finds that grief takes many different forms, but love can be just as powerful.

What worked: As someone who lost a sister to gun violence, I felt this novel nailed how people react differently to trauma. What especially stood out to me was Avery and how her fellow classmates shun her at school because she was the half-sister of the shooter. Something similar happened to my own family after the death of my sister. But like Lucy, someone close to us refused to blame the father of the shooter. I love how Lucy wants to know Avery and chooses to be a friend to her. This shows Lucy’s strength and her refusal to judge someone based on the choices of a family member.

Another plus has to be how the author shows how differently people deal with loss. Some might talk matter of factly about it. Some might over-schedule themselves with various activities in order to not remember. And some, like Lucy, want to talk about the loss.

Powerful must-read novel on how a tween, after the loss of her own younger brother, comes to a school where students are still coming to grips with a horrific school shooting. But it’s also a story of hope and the power of love. Books like this, that address the trauma after a horrific school shooting, are needed right now.