I love this book. How this book shows everyone's coping mechanism and how they live their daily life with their wounds. I deeply can relate to Lucy. She just reminds me of my school days me. It's straightforward and it's an amazing story for everyone (not only kids or young adults) because everyone has their own wounds and trauma. I love how the author has successfully brought Lucy characters along with math facts and jokes inside the story. It's a smart and heartwarming story. I never read a book like this before.

Once in a while, I came across a gem like this and I was reminded of why I loved reading so much.

This middle grade book was a delight. Lucy, our main protagonist, had to move to a new town because her parents were trying to ‘escape’ the death of Lucy’s younger brother, their beloved son. Unfortunately, the new town they moved to had a school shooting a few years beforehand, which forever changed the entire town’s demeanour towards life in general. Suddenly, the death of a brother due to illness couldn’t compare to the mass grief of mass death.

How would you process your grief when it seemed small in comparison, but still felt larger than life individually?

Was this why Lucy loved Math so much? Because 2+2 would always be 4 and there was no room for uncertainty?

I couldn’t believe this was a middle grade book. There was so much to unpack - it made me think, it made me feel. This book truly deserved more hype!

"A square has four equal sides and four equal angles, if one side is gone is it still a square?
A family has four members if one member is gone is it still a family"

The story depicts grief in a very well and sensitive manner. It covers a lot of hard hitting topics like terminal illness, PTSD and gun violence in very well manner. A class of students have witnessed a mass shooting at their school. The way they cope with their grief and trauma is commendable.

It also shows that every one around you is suffering with something and it is always a good idea to be kind.

This book is brilliantly written and narrated. It is emotionally heavy with a sibling’s death and a school shooting. These are some hard topics to write about especially for kids and the author has done a wonderful job. I’m not sure how suitable it is for the middle graders. I absolutely loved the part about Lucy being a math geek and the way title included her love for math. Really clever. The characters felt very real with all that they were going through. This book is heartbreaking for an adult so I’m not sure about children reading but I think it’ll help children understand trauma and loss.
I love listening to audiobooks while I read the eBook or physical copy so I requested for the audiobook as well. It is narrated by the author herself. The narration is very clear which is what I expect in any audiobook. I’ll definitely recommend the audiobook.

In a Nutshell: What a brilliant book this is! And yet, it leaves me with a niggling doubt about whether its content is suitable for children.

Story:
Twelve year old Lucy’s family is struggling with the death of her younger brother from a congenital heart defect. In an attempt to make a fresh start, the family shifts to a different town. But Lucy finds that her new classmates are dealing with a different tragedy of their own – they are the survivors from a school shooting that happened in their class 4 years back.
The book depicts the impact of tragedy on these young lives, with Lucy struggling to fit in a class full of children dealing with PTSD in different ways, and her own tragedy making her a misfit in her new social circle. All Lucy has as a source of comfort is her love for math, which seems to be reliable and definite, unlike most other things in her life. Soon, Lucy learns that everyone can deal with grief in different ways, and kindness is a powerful tool to overcome most obstacles.

What I loved:
• Lucy being a math geek! I adored the way she thought in Math and tried to put everything around her in terms of math. The intelligent manner in which the author has interwoven mathematics in the story is worth appreciating. The geek in me enjoyed all these math references. (Including the math riddles and the fact that every chapter began with an interesting math-related fact that also connected to the story. Brilliant!)

• The first person perspective of Lucy: This writing style brought us that much closer to her insecurities, her confusion, her love for maths, and her wish to fit in.

• The title: What a clever name for this book! It is a perfect fit for the story in multiple ways. Other than the obvious ‘math’ reference to indicate Lucy’s love for the subject, it also hints at the aftermath of the two tragedies: the death of Lucy’s brother and the school shooting.

• The characters: Most of the main characters are depicted in a very realistic manner and you feel for them as they go through their lives in the ‘aftermath’ of their respective traumas. The author doesn’t seek to exaggerate or devalue any experience but stays true to how actual people might behave under similar circumstances in real life. I especially want to mention two special characters here: Avery, whose step-brother was responsible for the shooting, and Mr. Jackson, the teacher who seems to be modelled on Mr. Brown from Wonder. On the whole, the character development in the book is fabulous.

• The issues it raises: This one book has the potential for so many important discussions we need to have with children: the importance of open and frequent communication, the willingness to opt for therapy if needed, the necessity of understanding mental health struggles (both for yourself and for others), gun control and personal safety requirements. It is a goldmine of discussion opportunities, and not just for children. I’m sure school shootings rank as one of the worst nightmares for a parent, and it preys on their feeling of helplessness in dealing with such situations. The book will be a worthwhile, albeit traumatic read for parents too.


What I am unsure about: (Note that I didn’t say ‘dislike’)
Is this a book I would want middle graders to read? I honestly don’t know. The content is quite dark. With a sibling death, parental problems dealing with the tragedy, and a school shooting too, the book is really heavy on the emotional scale and may not be the right fit for most typical middle graders. At the same time, these are events that actually happen, and awareness is always helpful. The fact is, this book could help children understand trauma or it will create trauma. So I’m a bit divided in my feelings here. While the topics are handled with a lot of sensitivity, I still feel that it would be better to target the YA audience and above as potential readers for this story. But yes, I would consider it an impactful read for every adult.

Minor complaint: I do not particularly like romance being included in a children’s book, even if it is aimed at middle-graders. While the crush-on-a-classmate arc is used properly by the author as a necessary plot point for one crucial scene, and she also includes one character saying that this is not the right age for such thoughts, (Thank you for writing that, dear author!), the fact still is that I do not like to read about crushes in a children’s book.

The audiobook is narrated by the author herself and she does a great job. I enjoyed her performance more than I had expected. It’s a pretty short audiobook at just a little over 5 hours.

Recommended to all adults (young and not so young), and only to the most mature middle-graders.

4.5 stars, rounding up.

Thank you, NetGalley and Lerner Audiobooks, for the audio ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

AfterMath is a well-written book on grief in its many forms. A young girl, Lucy, and her parents move to Virginia from Maryland after her younger brother dies from a rare heart disease. Her parents justify the move as an easier commute for them, but Lucy, who loses her friends, believes it is an attempt to escape pain. They are trying their best to heal from the loss of their child.

Lucy ends up in a middle school where most of the students are survivors of a grade school mass killing. It is a tough adjustment all around. I found it very easy to relate to Lucy’s need to protect herself and her heart. More importantly, my middle school granddaughter easily put herself in Lucy’s shoes too. While we didn’t experience the loss of a sibling, we have experienced devastating loss of close family members.

AfterMath flows at a steady pace that grows as Lucy faces some challenges and a betrayal. Lucy’s inner dialogue and use of math principles to explain her struggle, is effective in putting the reader in Lucy’s head. Her pain and her parents’ attitudes are heartbreaking at times.

"A square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that is has four equal sides and four equal angles. What happens when one side is gone? Is it still a square? No. If a family has four members, and one is gone, are we still a family?"

This an excellent book for teens and adults. My granddaughter and I listened to the story with the e-book to read along. The audio book is performed by the author, Emily Barth Isler. She does an excellent job performing a story that must be near and dear to her heart. There are some political messages, but they are subtle. I'm not a fan of authors who hit the reader over the head with their political beliefs, whether I agree with them or not.

AfterMath is an excellent book to read and/or listen if you or your family has experienced loss or to help initiate discussions about personal loss with family members. I recommend the book for teens and adults alike.
If you are an audiobook fan, this is a must listen.

We both rate it 5 Stars.

AfterMath is the story Lucy, whose family relocates to Virginia after her younger brother's death. Lucy's new classmates are the survivors of a school shooting that occurred several years before and are still dealing with the lasting effects of that horrific tragedy. The way the author portrayed the grief and struggles of the major characters' families felt very realistic. This book examines the effects of tragedy in a unique way that should be relatable for middle school readers.

I really enjoyed the audiobook narration, which is done by the author. Moving back and forth between the ebook and audio felt seamless. The author's voice kept me immersed in the world of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lerner Digital for access to an advance listener copy of AfterMath.

The narrator is monotone for a book with so much potential. I can't get the app to play past the first chapter, so perhaps it gets better. Hopefully there is a printed version I can add to the shelves so the students can create their own narrations.

I really like how AfterMath explores how grief has different effects on people who share the same or similar trauma. I think this book can help young students who have difficulty recognizing and expressing pain come to terms with their grief and/or anxiety. I think this book can also help students develop empathy for their peers who may be grieving behind a smile. I particularly like how the writing style embraces mathematical reasoning with poetry.

Quote:
A square is a regular quadrilateral, which means it has four equal sides and four equal angles.
What happens when a side is gone? Is it still a square?
No.
If a family has four members and one is gone, are we still a family?

...
thanks a lot to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read a copy of this book, to the author as well.

After her brother's death from a congenital heart defect, twelve-year-old Lucy is not prepared to be the new kid at school—especially in a grade full of survivors of a shooting that happened four years ago. Without the shared past that both unites and divides her classmates, Lucy feels isolated and unable to share her family's own loss, which is profoundly different from the trauma of her peers.

Lucy clings to her love of math, which provides the absolute answers she craves. But through budding friendships and an after-school mime class, Lucy discovers that while grief can take many shapes and sadness may feel infinite, love is just as powerful.

An audiobook that while I was working out at the gym, I could see that there are many beautiful things in life, my life, and that reading it made me feel sad. Something that I also went through on my first day in a city that I hadn't studied there for a long time, everything was new.

4.5

.Twelve-year-old Lucy is the new girl in school, and after recently losing her brother to a congenital heart defect, she has a long road of healing ahead of her. The other students in school are no strangers to tragedy as they are all survivors of a recent school shooting.

Lucy copes by clinging to the subject of Math, considering everything with Math is certain in a very uncertain world. With time she is able to make friends, although initially struggling as an outsider among students with such a strong bond over a horrible incident.

It makes me so sad to even think of children who need to deal with similar situations in real life, but unfortunately this book is NEEDED. I hope this becomes a must-read for junior high students, and I would highly recommend it to families dealing with loss.

While fictional, I found the emotions and character development very realistic. Well written and moving.

How sad that this book has to exist.

It’s the story of a young girl whose parents decide it’s time for a change. They’ve recently lost their son (Theo) and need a change of pace. They end up in a community that had recently gone through a school shooting. This leaves their daughter, Lucy, in a very strange position. Her classmates survived a trauma, she’s the odd girl out. She didn’t know the shooter, the victims, or the survivors before it all happened. And somehow her own trauma of losing her brother feels somehow like less of a trauma and not something she can share with people who suffered so much more.

Lucy ends up befriending the school’s biggest outcast, the sister (Avery) of the shooter. But she cannot really open up to Avery because Avery is struggling enough. And Lucy’s parents haven’t figured out how to talk about Theo, or anything else, with their daughter.

Basically, everyone here - child and adult - are just trying to figure out who they are, how to communicate with others, and how to deal with their traumas and grief without feeling like a burden to others.

It’s a tough read, especially when you realize it’s a middle grade book. Well written. A bit of a tearjerker at times, but there’s hope to be found here too.

The narration of the audiobook was very good and fit the book perfectly.

Thank you to Lerner Audiobooks/Lerner Digital and NetGalley for an advanced listening copy of AfterMath by Emily Barth Isler.

After her younger brother dies from a congenital heart condition, 12-year-old Lucy moves to a new town. Her parents think they all need a fresh start. Lucy's new bedroom used to belong to a girl killed in a school shooting - a shooting that happened at her new school. Her classmates are still traumatized by the loss of their fellow students and Lucy doesn't seem to fit in anywhere. She is also grieving, but her loss is so different from that of her classmates. Will she ever be able to make a connection with anyone in her new town?

This story is full of hard things, but kids are tough. Today's kids have been needing a book like this. I'm declaring this one a must-have for all school, public, and classroom libraries (middle grade and middle school).

Thank you to NetGalley and Lerner Audiobooks for the advance audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Lucy is no stranger to loss. She recently lost her little brother to a heart defect, resulting in her parents’ decision to move to another town. The town they choose is one where a school shooting took place a few years earlier, and the house they choose belonged to the family of one of the victims. In fact, Lucy’s new room belonged to the girl who died, and when she starts at her new school, she quickly becomes aware that all of the students who were lost were exactly her age, and many of the survivors are dealing with PTSD. Feeling that her loss is different from theirs, she tells no one about her brother—which fails to make her miss him any less, especially since her parents are still too wrapped up in their own grief to help her.

What keeps her going? Math! And her math teacher. And the mime class her math teacher runs after school. And a new friend, who has her own reasons for not quite fitting in with the other kids.

This book spoke to me on at several levels. I was a classroom teacher when the massacre at Sandy Hook occurred, about an hour away from the school where I taught. I will never forget that day. I was a math geek growing up…okay, maybe I still am…so I really appreciated the math humor and math analogies the author used, and, of course, the title. As a parent…I really felt for Lucy’s parents. The story was both touching and powerful.

I have read a few books about school shootings in recent years—most seemed to focus on the actual event or the immediate aftermath. This one took a look at what the kids, who were in third grade when the shooting happened, might be like as they started seventh grade. I found this to be a unique perspective, especially when paired with a loss of a different kind.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the audiobook was narrated by the author. I do not know whether she has narrated other works, but this was really wonderful. Five stars for the story, five stars for the narration.

Thank you, NetGalley for the audiobook.

Never expected that I will find such a book as AfterMath. It is not your typical story about a young girl who goes to school and struggles with boys, friendships, and strict parents. It is so much more, complex and frankly, very very sad. This book covers death, loss, the importance of therapy (thank you a million times for this), and the need for forgiveness and moving on with your life.

Impressive! I really recommend this book to anyone!

This book is to dark for me I do like the narrator but not the story I usually like a good mind bender but this is just people stuck in tragedy

I loved this book. 12 year old math whiz Lucy moves with her parents to a town which had a school shooting a few years earlier. She lost her brother a year before to a condition he was born with. The story so so well told, dealing with Lucy's struggle to adapt and also her parents and the friends Lucy makes at school. The audio narrator is also brilliant. Highly recommend this for all age groups.

I liked this story. I would have given it 3 stars for enjoyment but the fact that it tackled some tough topics at an appropriate level without feeling like there was an agenda being pushed is going to bump it up to 4 stars for me. In a time when so many challenging things are thrown at our kids I try to be aware of not adding more worries or politics to their lives. I am thankful for the chance to review the pre-release audio book from NetGalley. The narrator was great. It is probably not a story I would have found on my own. My son is listening to it next and I am anxious to see what he thinks of it too.

Wow just wow this book is going to send a powerful message. As a personal who also suffers from mental illness (Anxiety, Depression and PTSD (from childhood abuse)). I felted I connected with this story. I do have to say my sufferings are different then those in this book. But I feel no matter what there needs to be more talk on mental illness. People shouldn't have to hide and keep their feelings to themselves. The way the main character Lucy goes about her life after what she dealt with. To what those kids had to go thru when they are in 3rd grade was very tragic. I wish I could rate this more than 5 stars thats what it needs. I am going to do my part and spread the awareness on Mental Illness and tell my story to also inspire others. This book is my inpiration to finally not be afraid to tell people my story. Thank you Emily Barth Isler I love your work and cant wait to read more of it.

AfterMath was a quick read that covered some difficult topics without ever feeling sad or depressing. Lucy has moved with her parents to a new town after the death of her little brother. She starts at a school with the class of students who were the victims of a school shooting. The book does a fantastic job of showing how everyone deals with grief differently. Besides Lucy's thoughts, we get snapshots of how her parents, classmates, and teachers are all trying to move on from tragedy. Throughout the book, Lucy thinks about situations in mathematical ways and each chapter starts with a math problem. Together, these provide provide a level of symbolism that is a powerful addition to the plot.

This is also a story of friendship. Lucy struggles with losing touch with her friend from back home and the difficult task of making new friends in a middle school where all the students have been bonded by tragedy.

Though listed as Middle Grade, the topics of this book may be difficult for some readers. Despite the tough topics, I believe that this book would be great for anyone to read: middle schoolers, teachers, and families.