This was such an emotional read! The story follows Bea, an 8th grader who uses a wheelchair, in a dual timeframe narrative surrounding the before and after of a school shooting. Trauma, grief, daily difficulties, and healing are all covered with great care and sensitivity. Though this is categorized as a novel-in-verse, to me, it read more like a traditional novel with some dramatic pauses. Overall, this was a good read and I would recommend this book to an upper middle grade or adult reader looking for a book that will tug on your emotions and empathy.

5/5. 10/10. So timely, important, and devastating. This book in verse shows the tragedy of what is our unfortunate reality through Bea, a girl with cerebral palsy who is wheelchair bound. We see her journey before and after a shooting that takes place in her school, her classroom, and how it impacts her life afterward. Although it is heavy and I cried throughout the entire book, there is a glimmer of hope. It has a powerful message that all need to read.

Poetic, moving, and utterly heartbreaking, Please Pay Attention is a novel that demands to be read, felt, and deeply considered. Jamie Sumner masterfully captures the raw realities of a school shooting through the eyes of Bea, a sixth grader with cerebral palsy who navigates the world from her wheelchair. Her voice is honest and powerful, offering a perspective that is too often overlooked in stories like this.

This book isn’t just a story. It’s a wake-up call. Bea’s experience reveals the terrifying reality that not all students are equally protected when the unimaginable happens. It forces readers to confront the painful truth of how schools, safety protocols, and even society fail children in moments of crisis. It’s eye-opening in the most necessary way, making it impossible to look away or ignore the need for change.

Please Pay Attention broke my heart and filled me with rage, but more than anything, it left me inspired. Voices like Bea’s matter, and so does everyone else’s. “Nothing changes if nothing changes.” Every single person should read this book. It’s time to listen, speak up, and demand better for our children.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

This book was a very harrowing read. Most books about school shootings are, but this one hurt differently. Following an eight grade girl named Bea with cerebral palsy that survives a school shooting, this book and its unique structure does a great job of encapsulating the feelings of survivor’s guilt and trauma following these kinds of tragedies but not in a general overarching way. It really got into how Bea feels in the weeks after the shooting. How she doesn’t want to talk about the anger, the fear, the sadness, and the guilt. How she tries to deal with it via equine therapy. It’s a very beautiful book and very heartbreaking.

A great novel-in-verse showing the loss, grief and trauma Bea faces after there is a school shooting. Bea is traumatized and doesn’t want to talk about it and so her mom suggests equine therapy which helps some.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the eARC of this book. All opinions are my own

This one really hit home. I grew up as part of the first generation to start regularly practicing school shooting drills. And now I am a parent (actually an adoptive parent like Bea’s mother in this book) of children who find them common place. Please Pay Attention imagines the terror of a school shooting at a private Christian school from the perspective of Bea, a young wheelchair user whose life and story are spit into essentially two parts - before and after the shooting. It’s heartbreaking to read Bea’s inner thoughts as she tries to process not just the shooting but her own vulnerability and the aftermath that follows. It’s even more heartbreaking when you read the author’s note at the end and realize that the story is not just drawn from recent headlines but the author’s own loss of a close friend and educator. Quick and easy to read in prose accessible to readers of all ages and ability, Please Pay Attention addressed a serious topic that children to day have to address all too often. I hope this book helps radicalize a new generation of young readers to demand changes in gun control and school safety.

This review is based on a review copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley.

During COVID I went to go see Coco in a park with my husband. It was set up like a drive-in, allowing for social distancing AND for us to get out and lose that cabin fever feeling. Right after the movie started, we smelled burning rubber as the air filled with smoke. Shouting and squealing tires drowned out the radio playing the movie audio. Suddenly, a car came around the field we were in as shots were fired through the crowd of families. It was a terrifying experience. We were okay and everyone around us was okay but it was traumatic.

I am a school librarian. I walk into a school each morning and walk out each afternoon. There is a chance that one of these days, I will not walk out. I could experience a school shooting.

This middle-grade novel in verse follows a girl, Bea, who experiences a school shooting. We get a chance to know Bea. The reader is introduced to Bea's life, her little buddy, her wheelchair, her mom who adopted her as a baby. Bea has cerebral palsy and when the shooting happens, she is unable to run and hide like her classmates. I cannot imagine how much scarier that would make a situation like what I experienced at the park. This sensitive topic is dealt with grace. Nonetheless, it is terrifying. Bea is also adopted from foster care, which is also handled with grace and a matter of fact way that is refreshing.

I think this is an important book. I want to add it to my library. More than anything, I want to force every single person who does not support common sense gun control to sit and read this. Because these things happen and too many people seem to think that is a fact of life when it does not have to be.

Thank you to Net Galley, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, and Atheneum Books for Young Readers for the DRC. All opinions are my own and are heavily influenced by my experiences and reality.

Gosh, Please Pay Attention is a book that hurts in the best way. Bea is a sixth-grader with cerebral palsy who is Buddies with Josie, a kindergartner with anxiety, and best friends with Rani. Max is the school nurse, and also her foster mom who gave her her name because Bea’s neonatal room was decorated with Peter Rabbit before Max brought her home. Bea loves to draw and even gets in trouble for drawing places she shouldn’t, like her bedroom wall and classroom desk.

But then one day the unthinkable happens and an active shooter comes to the school. Bea panics when her teacher tells everyone to get down, and isn’t able to get down from her chair until after everyone else is down, leaving her feeling extra alone. The trauma of the day makes it hard for Bea to do anything she used to love, and being indoors makes her feel trapped because what if she’s too far from the exits or her chair can’t make it across an area?

This is such an important book but also so heartbreaking in the best way only because we get to see Bea healing and we see the love and community around her. There have been too many school shooting events in American history, and our legislation continues to waffle on creating any changes on gun access and control. The way Bea’s personal story is told interspersed with letters to her governor, pleading that they pay attention, is such a great element, especially because who she’s writing the letters to isn’t revealed until the ending.

Please Pay Attention is an exceptional book telling an important story. As mass shooting events happen, too often disabled people are forgotten and left behind, both literally and figuratively. This book, I hope, can make such a difference because it is centering the experiences of a disabled child, and also she is never shown as a burden. Bea is a loved child whose mom does everything in her power to help her heal, which translates to equestrian therapy because Bea can’t bear to talk about the experience. I loved this book and cannot wait for it to reach more readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Jamie Sumner for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This story is told through the eyes of Bea, a kid with cerebral palsy and a wheelchair, who experiences a school shooting and has PTSD afterwards. Bea already hasn’t had the easiest start in life with a severe disorder that affects many aspects of her life. She has a wheelchair and braces on her legs. Her experience of the school shooter and finding her guardian afterwards brought tears to my eyes. I’m not a parent yet, but I never hope to experience the scene that Jamie Sumner wrote. The PTSD Bea has after the shooting is so raw and sad. Her guardian is so empathetic and understanding and helps Bea process so many big feelings in ways that she can. The ending letter can be applied to this tragedy but also a lot of the potential bills that are currently going through our political system. This book was so good, and, while it’s written for children/middle grade, adults should find this one worthy of their time.

Please Pay Attention is exactly what a novel in verse should be: using space and prose effectively, packing an emotional punch, and presenting a strong message.

Not a single thing is sugarcoated in this story - not the school shooting, not the grief, not the call for comprehensive gun laws. Bea is a perfectly poignant narrator, with raw emotion as she deals with trauma and PTSD. I predict that Bea will stick with me like Maddie in Alone or Collin in Worst Case Collin, as she is an utterly original entry into the novel-in-verse unforgettable narrator canon.

Jamie Sumner presents such an interesting question to middle grade readers and the people who care for them: how do we take care of those who physically cannot escape or evade during a mass shooting? How do we prevent these from happening? This is a reminder for educators and caregivers for children: read this book along with them. This is HEAVY, and it will lead to some strong conversations. It will remind us all to please pay attention, as hard as that can be.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atheneum Books for Young Readers for an eARC in exchange for my honest review. I am a library assistant at an elementary school, so my thoughts are written with my students in mind.

This was a poignant story to read, even if I hate books written in verse. I'm giving it 3.5 stars because there were parts I had to read twice to make sure I wasn't missing something important and when I confirmed that in fact, the information I sought was not provided, it left me frustrated.

This is a bare bones description of a school shooting, in terms of no violence is described, merely suggested. Bea's facing the aftermath of the school shooting, including the loss of her teacher and her adopted mom suggests horse therapy. This finally helps her heal.

As I said, I feel a lot was missing from this story. Another book I read, This is Not a Drill by KT Holt, is written in text messages and I thought captures more emotion as the characters are searching for one another. The subchapters of this book are so fleeting and missing information that I don't think this provided the real depth that it could have.

As for politics, I cannot fathom why gun control is such a hot button issue that we continue to have school shootings and the people that can affect such change do not seem to care. Authors and newspapers can write about such tragedy, news channels can show the actual imagery of aftermath and students beg for the ability to be safe going to school and we as a country cannot even give our children peace that at school they won't be shot. Such a sad world it is out there.

Thank you to Atheneum Books for Young Readers and Netgalley for this ARC.

Telling the story of a school shooting through the medium of a novel in verse is a great concept, and I appreciate the inclusion of a wheel chair user as the main character.

As a special education teacher, this book was so powerful for me to read. Not only in the eyes of my students but as a parent who has my own children at school with me. What we put our students through when we practice lockdown drills and then to go through the real things ( I have been through one when a shooter was just outside our buildings). This book should be read by everyone in education.

Bea has cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair. She is a great character who goes through a lot.
There is a shooting at her school and it really makes her question what she can't do with her disease.
She learns to heal, by riding a horse and eventually talking about it with Max, her guardian.
This is a beautiful novel in verse dealing with a tough topic.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC

Sumner has done an incredible job looking at the realities and fears associated with school shootings. Covering time both before and after the event allow readers to see how trauma impacts Bea as well as how this event shatters her typical environment and routine. Bea felt realistic and well-written. Addressing concerns about wheelchair using students (as well as other mobility issues) in relation to school shootings and how they can protect themselves is so important. Overall, this was a well done and moving look at the school violence crisis and everyone should read it. It was also nice to see the book focused on addressing how the work to stop this really needs to fall to government officials rather than individuals.

Wow. What a book. Bea's story is one that students and adults need to read. I hate that this book needs to exist, but books like this just might make these situations historical fiction rather than our reality.

This is an absolute masterpiece of a novel in verse. I wish I could send a copy to every senator and congressman/woman and every member of the NRA. Too many young lives have been shattered by gun violence and the eloquent way you have of showing the perspective of a survivor is unparalleled. #pleasepayattention is a must read. Our kids shouldn’t have to practice lockdown or active shooter drills. My fellow teachers and I shouldn’t have to look around our classrooms and figure out where we could quickly hide kids.

In Please Pay Attention, sixth-grader Bea, who has cerebral palsy, is content with her school and her adoptive mom, Max. However, a school shooting shatters her sense of security, forcing Bea to grapple with new anxieties and complex emotions. To help her heal, Max suggests she connect with a horse.

Jamie Sumner sensitively portrays this tragic event, immersing the reader in Bea's experience. While the subject matter may be difficult, it's handled with care.

Because of its themes, Please Pay Attention is most appropriate for middle school and young adult readers.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

A heartbreaking MG novel about a young disabled girl who survives a school shooting and the early steps of her recovery from that trauma. There is, tragically, a growing body of fiction for young people that explores the experiences of mass shooting victims and survivors. This is the first one that I am familiar with that explores that horrific experience through the eyes of a disabled person. It's a short read, and incredibly sad, with additional author notes that make it even more tragic (the incident is loosely based on the 2023 Covenant School Shooting which claimed the life of one of the author's dearest friends). Just accept now that you're going to sob through 2/3 of the book.

5 stars

When Jamie Sumner demands I pay attention, I absolutely do, and it's impossible not to when it comes to this heartwrenching novel and the challenge of separating the characters' experiences from what we all encounter far too often in modern society.

Young Bea is living her best life in the most expected place - school - when what used to be the unthinkable and is now becoming a far too regular occurrence happens: a shooting. Readers follow Bea through the experience, starting with a reflection on it and working back through the event and some of her processing. This is exactly the kind of book that the people who most need to read will be the first to say is too inappropriate for its young audience (and they, of course, will be dead wrong...again).

As usual, Sumner brings a youthful, realistic perspective to her middle grade protagonist. I wish - as we all do - that children didn't have to think about these kinds of experiences in modern society, but as they do, it's extra important that they see these horrors depicted in age appropriate texts. Sumner does a real service not only in explaining the unimaginable experience and impacts to this target audience but also forcing more seasoned readers to face this horrible pairing of young people and deadly incidents.

I wish we didn't need a book like this. Since we do, I'm glad we have one that's so well devised. This is another solid effort from Sumner, and it's one I'll be recommending to my own students.