My Thoughts

First Thoughts
Sometimes bad things happen, and you have to tell everyone. Sometimes terrible things happen, and everybody knows.
These are the first lines of the book and sound so much like the current times. And yet, books like this show it has happened before and we have all survived those things before to read about them today. So, yes, this is a somber story, but it is a story of hope, of the implicit trust each of us have in humanity, of the trust we place in each other.

And then more
The book starts off with a brief narrative of what happened on the day of the bombing and then shifts to what happened and continues to happen after. I love that the book focuses on the aftermath of the tragedy and shows the impact of this event on those who remained, on the ones who lost loved ones in the tragedy. It also emphasizes the strength and resilience of the survivors including the Survivor Tree – the elm tree that survived the blast.
I certainly did not know about this tree until I read the book, and it was inspiring to find out about it. The Survivor Tree continues to provide hope and growth through its seedlings.

The Illustrations
Nicole Xu’s hauntingly beautiful ink and Photoshop illustrations capture the mood of the text perfectly, whether it be in gray and black tones to show the bombing itself or somber shades like gray and brown to capture the grief or additions of blues and greens to show the green seedlings of hope. The faceless renditions of people conveys a universality of all these feelings (the grief, the suffering, the terror, the trauma as well as the strength, the resilience, the help, the hope, the comfort).

Additional Notes
While the book notes that other tragedies will occur, it also shows through both powerful yet simple text and the accompanying illustrations that there is always hope, and there is always help.
The appendix includes author and illustrator notes, brief biographies of individuals interviewed for this, as well as additional resources that readers can use (a bibliography of books about community strength and internet resources).

In Summary
A must read. This is a wonderful resource to engage in conversations with children regarding tragedy, terror, grief, helping and healing the community, and hope. And while different, it is somehow a timely and timeless lesson too.

Note: Considering the subject matter, I would let parents and caregivers read the book first and then pass it on to their young readers, especially the youngest ones since you know your young ones best.

Disclaimer: Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the eARC of the book; these are my honest opinions after reading this book.

The Oklahoma City Bombing was such a formative event in my childhood that it interests me to see how it is presented as an historical event. Especially how it's done in a way appropriate for even young children. The key here is that Barton doesn't go into details and doesn't put the central focus on the bombing itself. The bombing is presented as a life changing event. A single moment that changed everything. We get a very brief summary to the effect of "a bomb exploded and many people died". The main focus of the text is on the trauma experienced by people and the efforts made to recover. And on the element I'd never heard of: the tree. The tree that became a symbol of resilience. The tree that they cultivate seedlings from to hand out at the memorial and transport to sites of other disasters. Barton's narrative is gentle enough for young children and could be of great benefit to any young person experiencing grief or loss.

This is a moving story of loss, grief, community, and hope. The writing style captures the complexity of these topics in a thoughtful and compelling manner. The illustrations are carefully crafted in a way that adds to the emotion of the story. The use of color, especially, deepened the impact of the story. This would be excellent resource to help facilitate conversations with children regarding tragedy.

It is nofiction illustrated work based on bombings of oklohoma city.
It focuses on a tall tree which survived the onslaught.
And then it became source of solace, inspiration and strength for survivors and their families.
It provided common ground for combined consciousness of the victims and their families.
It worked as a flag post for suffering masses to cling upon.
This underlines importance of collective effort to help each other and to preserve our nature.
In tough times and good times trees never turn their back.
Artwork is wonderful.
It is cohesive with narration.
Language is a little bit tough for little kids.
But tale carries message and purpose.
It tells tale tale of helping each other.
Very nice work to read and gift to young readers.
Thanks netgalley and publisher for review copy.

I had never heard of the survivor elm until I read this book. For all I'd read and seen about the bombing of the Alfred Murrah Building in April of 1995 in Oklahoma city, no one ever mentioned this. That bombing seems so long ago now, and has been so overshadowed by so many things since, that it's easy to forget what far too many people cannot: that 168 people died and left behind them loved ones whose pain didn't end that day with the loss of a life, but began instead.

The elm was almost cut down because it was damaged so badly, and embedded in its branches and trunk was forensic evidence: shrapnel from the blast. But it survived and later, people noticed it blooming. When it fruited, the seeds were collected and cultivated and passed out to those who needed them. Those seedlings grew and sprouted their own harvest, and so the progeny of this tree have spread everywhere now.

The tree itself has become a memorial, and this book is a memorial to that tragedy and the tree that survived it and gave hope and solace to others. This book is tastefully and respectfully written, tells a great true story, and is beautifully illustrated by new artist Nicole Xu who is very talented. Her work can be found online and is a treat to see. I commend this book fully.

Unfortunately, only the cover of the book would download to my device and so I am unable to supply any useful feedback.

As this is a picture book about the Oklahoma City bombing, it's not exactly something one reads for enjoyment. While I appreciate the intent behind the book, and think it could be a valuable teaching tool, I can't really say that I liked it, or that it's going to be appropriate for everyone.

The narrative is quite simple and focuses mostly on the aftermath and the healing process. (The bomber isn't even named, and the bombing itself takes up a very small part of the narrative.) Much is made of the Survivor Tree, an elm that withstood the blast and has since been propagated and shared as a way to keep life going in the face of tragedy. The pictures are kind of different; the style looks sort of like collage, and details are spare (the people have no facial features, for example). It was probably a good choice to go this route, as too much detail in this could've been overwhelming.

I think I would be really careful about who I chose to share this book with. It would have scared me pretty badly as a child, and I would've been in a panic every time I saw a white truck. If your child is a worrier like I was, and they're too young to understand the statistical unlikelihood of a similar bombing happening in their own neighbourhood, it might be best to hold off on a book like this until they're a bit older. I'd say at least eight years old, because of the inevitable questions about the bombing that are going to arise; kids need to be old enough to handle some of the other details that are going to come up when this event is explored.

But I can see this being a good classroom read. It's especially nice to see what people did to help each other in the aftermath of the bombing. Even though the details in this particular book are a little vague, it gets the ideas across and keeps the memory of the event alive for kids (and potentially their parents) who are too young to remember the bombing themselves.

I remember the Oklahoma bombing, one of the most horrific terrorist attacks I’d experienced in my young life. Chris Barton’s book All of a Sudden and Forever tells the story with such dignity and reverence, while all the while pointing readers to the hope that brings healing. The illustrations by Nicole Xu are beautiful and sensitive. I will definitely use this book in my classroom!
Thanks to #netgalley for the e-arc of this terrific book, @allofasuddenandforever

This is a lovely way to remember the events of April 19, 1995. My daughter was born that day in Indiana, and we watched the story unfold on TV. These words by Barton are perfect (especially repeating "not all at once," to reinforce that healing takes time) and Xu's faceless-and-yet-totally-descriptive-of-families characters add so much to the story of the Survivor Tree. I hope every child gets a chance to read this book and learn more about how to take care of each other in the world.

I was 9 years old when the Oklahoma bombing happened. I can still feel the understanding for the first time in my life that true evil existed. This was the first awful event I can recall. I can still remember the empty feeling in my stomach and the pain in my heart. That realization changes us all, this was mine.

This book is a beautiful tribute to an awful day in America’s history. The bombing did not discriminate. Children as well as adults were lost. Families were broken. Lovers were left mourning. I loved how during the embers of this tragedy Hope was found. The survivors tree... was something I was unaware of. The idea of the saplings of this tree standing charred at the site of this horrendous tragedy growing and bringing life and hope is such a beaut like idea.

The images are simple. Beautiful. Haunting. They fit so well with the heavy story they help weave.

While I read this Garth Brooks-The Change played in my brain and I was moved to tears again.