Grief and Friendship: The Shape of Thunder

Cindy: Shape of Thunder by Jasmine Warga I know we have way too many young people who have had to deal with the aftermath of a school shooting, but that didn’t make it any easier to pick up this book. I sure am glad I did. The Shape of Thunder (Harper/Balzer + Bray, 2021) by Jasmine Warga is a powerful story about friendship and grieving and community healing that starts in two homes. Seventh graders Cora Hamed and Quinn McCauley have been friends since second grade but haven’t spoken to each other in a year. Quinn’s older brother died in a school shooting he initiated that also killed Cora’s older sister. Both girls are dealing with loss, Quinn’s compounded by anger at her brother, and a slowly revealed guilt over her belief she might have prevented the shooting. The story is presented in alternating chapters between the girls, and also in letters that Quinn writes to her brother as she struggles to balance her love for her brother with her hatred of what he did.

What finally breaks the silence between the two friends is Quinn’s research and idea that they must travel back in time to before the shooting to prevent it. She has been studying up on worm holes and time travel and begs Cora to help her. Their desperation to fix what has gone wrong in their world is palpable and the pages turn fast as readers watch their efforts and wish for healing for them.

Despite the grim topic, Warga spins a story that is hopeful and that will help healing in many grieving situations or even in rifts in longtime friendships that often hit the breaking point in seventh grade. Great for book clubs or lit circles, middle school counselors, teachers, and parents would do well to read this story, too.

Truth According to Blue – Sunken Treasure, Diabetes, Service Dogs and Friendship

Lynn: Some books have a special place in your heart and Eve Yohalem’s first book, Escape Under the Forever Sky (Chronicle, 2009) is one of them. My middle school readers LOVED it and I loved to booktalk it. So I was really excited to see Yohalem’s new book, The Truth According to Blue (Little, Brown, 2020), and what a treat it is!

Blue is 13, school is out, and she has a secret plan for her summer—hunting for a family treasure her grandfather had spent his life looking for. Pop Pop has passed away recently and Blue’s Dad won’t even talk about any hint of the treasure being real. Blue has another reason to find the treasure. Blue has juvenile diabetes and she desperately wants something more than being seen as Diabetes Girl, especially as she is the actual poster child for a huge Diabetes fundraiser being held at the estate of a famous movie star.

Blue is careful and responsible about her illness. She tests regularly, pays attention to her numbers, and to her service dog, Otis. She can hardly wait to get out on the water and start the search when two huge obstacles enter the picture. Jules, the incredibly spoiled daughter of the movie star becomes Blue’s responsibility to take along and a famous greedy treasure hunter arrives searching for Blue’s treasure! Now for the first time, Blue finds herself keeping big secrets from her parents and taking some serious risks. Is the treasure worth losing their trust?

Endearing characters and a really exciting plot were the high points of the book for me but there are a lot of additional elements that added interest and heart to the story. Blue and Jules are terrific characters, each yearning for the chance to be more than the labels people stuck on them. Blue’s voice is terrific especially and I loved the depiction of a responsible kid trying to do the right thing while making some big mistakes. There is a lot of information about juvenile diabetes woven into the book very skillfully and Blue’s condition is just one piece of who she is. Every reader will fall for Otis. There is also a lot of interesting history, some information on boating and scuba diving, and a setting that makes an intriguing backdrop.

I was rooting for Blue and Jules all the way, cringing at some of their mistakes and smiling at the girls’ growth and developing friendship. The satisfying and surprising ending was the icing on the cake. It was lovely to see such a wonderful parent/child relationship portrayed too. This book had it all and I loved every word! Yay for Blue, Jules, Otis, and Eve Yohalem!

Dress Coded: Middle School Fiction That Is All Too Real

Lynn: I picked up Dress Coded (Penguin/Putnam, 2020) because of its timely subject and I stayed because the outstanding writing completely captured me! What a terrific surprise! I read this in a day, not wanting to put it down. Carrie Firestone is a debut author and one I will be eagerly watching.

This IS a timely subject and a very important one – the treatment of girls and the clothes they wear. In Molly’s middle school, the dress code is used to humiliate and harass. It is applied inequitably and it’s used to place blame and body shame on young girls. Molly, an 8th grader, is small and slight and a late developer and she has largely gone unnoticed by Fingertips, the administrator who prowls the halls looking for dress code violations such as shorts shorter than the length of a girl’s fingertips, bare shoulders, or bra straps that show. When one of Molly’s friends is treated horribly, she decides to take a stand and starts Dress Coded—a podcast highlighting case after case of humiliation and shaming and the impact it has on girls. The podcast becomes widely followed and soon even high school girls start asking to tell their story of their experiences as middle schoolers. Molly, who is an average student, and who has felt invisible, discovers the power of her voice and her outrage at the treatment of so many. Throughout the course of the book, Molly’s confidence grows and she learns the steps of an organized protest seeking change and justice.

But this more than simply an “issue” story. There is a lot going on here that captured and held my attention. Molly’s family is really struggling as her 11th-grade brother, Danny, is mean and defiant, addicted to the nicotine in vaping, and selling vaping pods to younger kids. The parents’ focus is on Danny and their inability to deal with him and here again, Molly feels unseen.

This story is also a portrait of the power of friendships. Molly, a deeply empathetic girl, is sustained and supported by her relationships with her widening circle of friends. Firestone’s picture of middle school is spot on as is the dialog, relationships, and struggles of kids that age. Told in Molly’s first-person voice, the story also includes podcasts, school bulletins, phone calls, and letters. Crushes, bullies, racism, and more is also explored. The story is compelling, encouraging, and ultimately triumphant. I was cheering the whole way!

Cindy: Dress Coded is going to be a popular book in middle schools. Having worked in them for over three decades and having raised two daughters who attended them, this story raises important questions and issues for students and policymakers to explore together. One of my favorite lines of the book comes during the school board meeting when a junior boy approaches the mic and says that, “he is distracted by girls all day every day (everyone laughs), but it has nothing to do with the thickness of their shoulder straps or whether their shorts are longer than their fingertips. ‘That, my friends, is preposterous.'” Anyone who knows adolescents or remembers being one knows that body image is such an important issue along with so many other awkward parts of this age, for both sexes, but girls face additional scrutiny due to messages in our media, and in our policies. It’s way past time to start doing something about it. Viva la revolution!

The formatting of the book, as Lynn notes, makes this an appealing read for reluctant or busy teen readers. The subject is sure to grab their attention, and the brief chapters and ample white space will keep them turning the pages.