I did not finish this book, but it's not due to the quality. I love Jasmine Warga's writing, but I just couldn't read this book. It might not be the right timing for it for me personally.

As someone who works in a school, who regularly has to do unscheduled lockdown drills that traumatize students, reading about the aftermath of a school shooting is just not something I can handle at the moment. I hate that school shootings have become so pervasive in the US that people barely blink an eye anymore. And it's just not something I want to engage with in my leisure reading at the moment.

Jasmine Warga has a way of making the reader feel deep emotions. I have been dealing with my own personal grief due to the loss of my mother, and while the loss isn't the same, I definitely felt this book more deeply than I think I would have under normal circumstances.

The Shape of Thunder was a book that readers will not want to put down. Told in alternating voices and both sides of the violent attack, and with a little science. Cora lost her sister Mabel in a school shooting. She was best friends with Quinn, who is also her neighbor, for years. Quinn's brother Parker was the one responsible. Quinn writes letters to her brother, who readers will think is still alive.

This is such an important book for middle grade readers that tackles many topics and themes such as friendship, forgiveness, therapy, and family.

This was a tear jerker. The author really captured an accurate depiction of grief and how hard it is to move past someone's unexpected death. I appreciate the delicate way the author handled the feelings of the sister of the school shooter. These kinds of crimes have many types of victims. This book did a good job of dealing with a serious topic in an age appropriate, hopeful way.

Jasmine Warga's latest book, The Shape of Thunder, is beautifully written and such a different take on a very real topic for our students. We often hear about stories that wrap around the active shooter, but not the aftermath for the families and communities. I appreciated Warga's plot of having the two girls be so close and ripped apart by this tragedy and finding their friendship again, even in the the wake of tragedy. We have included this title into our book club sets for next year.

Jasmine Warga is a personal favorite of mine. I think this would be a fabulous book to explore with a middle grade book club. I liked the way the character’s raw emotions were shown vividly to the reader. The story left me wondering what the girls would do to affect change. Another well-done novel by Jasmine Warga for a topic that is not explored enough, properly, in middle grade books.

A very touching story of friendship and rekindled relationships. Warga found the voice of both characters so well, allowing both sides of the story to be told with a sensitivity and awareness.
It is clear that both sides of the story are important and valued. The subject of the book -- the aftermath of a school shooting that leaves 2 families broken in different ways -- is written in a way that allows the reader to understand that there are more people affected by the shooting than just those in school at the time.

A great choice for middle schoolers who are looking for an emotional read. Would be great for a book club or small group reader's workshop.
3.5/5 stars

I did not finish this book. I got through the first 20%, but it was a struggle. I will say that I like the concept and the story was well written. I do believe that others may really enjoy the story. However, it just wasn't for me. It was kind of slow moving and I understand why it was written that way, but slow and sad just doesn't work for me personally. Perhaps the story would have picked up if I continued reading, but for me it wasn't worth the time to find out. If you like slow moving emotional books then this would be a great read for you, so while I personally didn't like it I would still recommend it to others.

A compelling story of grief, guilt, and friendship after a far-too-common tragedy. The story is told in each girl's voice, giving the book another level of emotions and strength.

Quinn & Cora have been inseparable friends their whole lives, but tragedy drives a wedge between them. The two girls deal with many losses: their older siblings, their feelings of safety at school, and their friendship. Then, Quinn gets an idea that will save their siblings and repair what has been broken. The two girls come together to explore the possibility of time travel as a means of righting a serious wrong. Will their determination be enough to fix everything?

My heart broke for both of these girls as I read- Warga does an excellent job of realistically portraying trauma. Even though both girls lost older siblings, they experience vastly different feelings for them, and their families deal with the events by either embracing therapy or avoiding discussing emotions. I loved Cora's scientific and pragmatic perspective as much as I empathized with Quinn's guilt and desire to make amends. This book is very different from Other Words For Home, but Jasmine Warga's poetic voice comes through in this middle-grade novel. I would be cautious as to which students can handle this text or not- the exploration of grief and trauma could be too much for certain readers.

This MG book is a painful journey through grief, loss, regret, friendship and acceptance. “Cora is dealing with the loss of her sister in a school shooting and Quinn is carrying the guilt of what her brother did. As the two former friends are trying to unravel the mysteries of time travel to save their siblings, they learn that the magic of their friendship may actually be the key to saving themselves.” An amazing book that will definitely pull at your heart strings and leave an impression.

Quinn and Cora are...were best friends, but after what Quinn's brother, Parker, did, Cora finds it difficult to forgive Quinn and her family. On Cora's 12th birthday, Quinn leaves a box on her doorstep: a hypothesis of going back in time to fix everything before it went wrong. Cora wants to use logic and science to believe that a wormhole could send them back in time to the moment of the shooting, Quinn wants to believe that there is some magic in the universe that can open the wormhole to the weeks prior to try to connect with Parker. The former friends begin talking, researching, and experimenting how to change the fabric of time to save their siblings.

There are a few authors with whom I automatically add to the TBR list and Jasmine Warga is now one of them! This is a heartbreaking read of loss, tragedy, trauma, guilt, forgiveness, and friendship. Written in first-person with alternating POV between Cora and Quinn, Warga deals with the process of forgiveness, grief, and acceptance of loss in a tender and approachable way. The reader doesn't necessarily learn the path Parker takes to reason his decisions, but rather, the focus of the narrative is on the oppressive guilt of the family that remains. Cora's grief (and anger) of losing her sister at the hands of her best friend's brother is, understandably, the catalyst for learning more about the shape of time. A wonderfully heart-breaking story (with a major TW) that I was unable to put down.

Oh, my heart! This book was so sad, sweet and well done! A gripping story from start to finish.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are completely my own.

What a book this is. Jasmine Warga has beautifully crafted a story that helps middle grade children navigate trauma and grief.

In The Shape of Thunder, two seventh grade ex-best friends handle the aftermath of losing their siblings very differently. When one’s sibling is responsibly for the death of the other, it makes everything tricky and impossibly difficult between the two friends. And how could it not? It would be a lot for anyone to go through, let alone two young teenagers. Both grasp onto whatever they can to try and make sense of the senseless world around them.

There are no punches pulled with this book, nor should there be. The reality of school in America means that hard conversations need to happen (though they shouldn’t) and Warga does not shy away from heavier themes. Bigotry, gun violence, absent parents, the stigma of therapy… What a book for teens to have. What a resource. What a comfort.

This book is told in dual perspective between the two friends, Cora and Quinn. The way they speak to each other and to their peers I found to be incredibly realistic, as is their desperation to cling to any idea that could help to fix what’s gone wrong between them. Warga has such a firm grasp on both of these characters that their voices are distinct from chapter to chapter.

I loved this book and I’m so glad it exists for everyone who needs it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins for the advance Kindle copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 for this heartbreaking story about best friends trying to make sense of a tragedy. Almost one year ago, Quinn’s brother Parker shot and killed several classmates, including her best friend Cora’s sister Mabel. Now existing in separate worlds, the two are brought back together by the possibility of finding a wormhole and changing the past. Told in alternating voices, the girls’ pain is palpable - and their friendship may be what saves them after all. This one is out this coming Tuesday, and I highly recommend it for grades 5-8.

Long after the headlines of a school shooting have faded, loved ones are left trying to figure out how to carry on with their lives. Is it possible for the sister of the shooter and the sister of a victim to continue being friends? Cora and Quinn haven't spoken since the incident, almost a year ago, but Quinn now thinks it's possible to fix things. She and Cora are going to find a wormhole and travel back in time to keep the shooting from happening. Meanwhile, their parents don't want to talk about the past, leaving the girls to figure things out on their own. Can they really fix things or will they just need to learn how to move on with their lives?

I loved the alternating narrators and how each character managed the grief and guilt they were feeling. The plot was so interesting. I'd never considered how the victims' families and the shooters' families might interact after such a tragedy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for an early e-ARC of this book.

Best friends and neighbors Cora and Quinn have had their friendship shattered by the events of a school shooting. Both have suffered immeasurable loss, and both are living with the guilt left behind in the wake of the tragedy. The hurt they feel has deeply divided them and yet they are drawn together in the belief that time travel may be possible, working together with the hopes of transporting themselves back in time to change the events of the horrifying day that transformed their lives, their friendship, and their families.

Jasmine Warga beautifully addresses a complicated topic in a way that helps the reader connect, forgive, heal, and leave feeling hopeful.

Cora has not spoken to her best friend Quinn in over a year. Not since Quinn's older brother committed a horrendous act of violence that resulted in Cora's older sister's tragic death. What reunites them is an idea that seems impossible, to travel back in time to stop the school shooting from happening.

This is a story about two girls looking for wormholes in the forest and finding forgiveness instead. It’s one girl writing letters to her lost brother and the other trying to make sense of her sisters tragic death through the scientific method. It’s the two of them coming together to do the impossible.

It is sunlight on oak trees and scientific article clippings left on front doorsteps. It is forgiveness in its truest and rawest form. It is mistakes and their consequences and the love that heals the gaps that grief gives us.

I cannot wait to incorporate this title into my classroom. Cora and Quinn are going to save the world with their story.

Thank you so much to HarperCollin's Children's books for an advanced ecopy of this book.

(content warnings: school shootings, gun violence, mentions of Islamaphobia)

I absolutely adored this book from Jasmine Warga, and loved that she brought the topic of school shootings, and mental health to the table for middle grade readers that was palpable yet easy to process. The friendship, and the break that occurred as a natural result of the horrific event was truly so meaningful, and being able to process grief and blame in order to repair that relationship was so special.

Grief was especially so well handled in this story. I liked that the author provided different avenues to which individuals found themselves processing - both health and unhealthy. Whether it be parents refusing to talk about a subject in an effort to protect their children, accessing mental health services, seeking out personal identity, or writing letters to someone who will never read them, there were so many examples of how grief can impact a person.

Having a sister, the emotional piece of Cora losing Mabel was incredibly poignant for me, and I really loved how realistic the author made the relationship and the memories that Cora shared about her sister in the story.

Honestly, I have no critiques. I think this is a perfect novel for the current time, and for the audience/demographic that this book is targeted to. I will definitely be interested in purchasing a copy for my son to read together at bedtime. We would love to have this book in our collection.

Thank you so much for allowing me to read this book and provide feedback.

In the year since tragedy struck their community, former best friends Cora Hamed and Quinn McCauley haven't spoken. Cora, who lives with her Lebanese father and white American grandmother, is mourning the loss of her older sister Mabel who was killed by a school shooter and Quinn is still reeling from the unspeakable actions of her older brother. Quinn has an idea, though, to fix everything that her brother put wrong by traveling back in time to stop him from bringing the gun to school.

This is an extremely powerful and utterly heartbreaking novel of two girls managing to heal in the aftermath of unbelievable tragedy. This novel succeeds in sharing both Quinn and Cora's voice in alternating chapters and offers a glimpse into a community attempting to heal after tragedy. Especially poignant are Quinn's letters to her older brother where she tries to understand how a person she knew and loved could turn so hateful and violent. Comments are made about the types of internet sites he visited, and racial slurs he directed at Cora's family and others. At the same time, Cora is grappling with her Lebanese-American heritage and pushing her father to open up to her. This book may not be for every reader, but as school shooter drills become commonplace even in elementary schools it is timely and essential reading.