It's so sad that we live in a world where books like these have to exist to help people and victims process their grief and have people empathize with their loss and experience. But we do, and Emily Barth Isler captures both the heartbreaking sense of loss and trauma, as well as the hope for the future, in this beautiful middle grade novel. 

I love the discussions around grief and the idea that grief can be so different for different people. Our main character just experienced the loss of her younger brother after a terminal heart condition took his life, and now she steps into a new school where many of the kids from her year were victims of a school shooting 4 years ago. Unsure how to talk about her grief in the midst of the grief of all these other children who have collectively experienced something horrible, our main character learns to listen and observe and love people as they are and listen to their stories and they to hers. This was such a beautiful book about friendship and family and loss and grief and truly depicts the impact of today's politics and our world as it is right now and the impact it is having on generations of tomorrow. 

Definitely a standout middle grade for me this year. Despite all of the grief that feels these pages it was truly an uplifting novel and I loved how our characters reach a point of healing by the end. Grief is infinite, but love is infinite as well and I think that's the truly beautiful lesson shared within this novel.

TW: grief, school shooting, death of a sibling, alienation; mentions child death, death, injury detail, bullying

Plot: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
World Building: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Pacing: 5/5
Overall: 5/5

ALC gifted via NetGalley by Lerner Digital in exchange for an honest review.