AfterMath, mglit on loss, tragedy, growing up, family, and some math puns

Middle-grade books about tragedy don’t need to be a drag. Some topics and some characters certainly need to have their story presented in a book that’s clearly dramatic and mglit readers can still learn from them. Take for example the topic of school shootings. It’s an event that happens at schools and students have drills to prepare for them. However, because they happen, they occur too often, and when it does happen it impacts the kids in that particular school in ways that others can’t fathom. AfterMath is mglit that deftly walks the line of drama, feelings of melancholy, school shooting, coming-of-age, and death of a family member in a way that readers can empathize with and learn from.

That description is a tall order. However, assuming that the story is not a complete tragedy, there are teachable elements that any reader can pull from it. The events in AfterMath take place a couple of years after a school shooting. The specific actions of the shooting aren’t referenced in the book at all. Readers are brought into the story by way of Lucy, a new student who is just starting middle school. Her family has just moved to the area because they’re trying to put some distance behind them about their own tragedy.

You see, Lucy had a younger brother who passed away. The book doesn’t tell us exactly when he died, just that it was an ongoing illness and that the family moved away from that city in an effort for a completely new life. Being that she’s just starting middle school and had lots of other things happening in her life, Lucy hadn’t been following the national or regional news. She had certainly heard about the school shooting, but didn’t know the details and surely didn’t know that some of her potential friends were directly related to the person who did it.

Lucy’s family is dealing with her sibling’s loss in their own way. Her father is using humor to try to get Lucy back to her old self, while her mom is plowing through things as quickly as possible. Lucy is trying to get her rhythm back too and thanks to a conversation with a teacher in the school she just might have found it. Her family also raises their eyebrows when she expresses an interest in mime, but she really seems keen on it. Also, as she’s trying to make new friends she says hello to Avery, a young girl who everyone in the school is actively ignoring. She’s friendly enough and the two have a couple of things in common, but it turns out that Avery is the sister of the school shooter.

AfterMath is a story that’s deeper than you expect, that’s told at a level that’s simpler than what you think it would be. All of the realistic-fiction elements that happen in the book are dealt with realistically and will help readers think about how each of them impacts everyone around them. At its simplest, it helps upper elementary and middle school readers hopefully acknowledge a lesson that more of us would behoove from. It’s not always about us and other people might be going through an even more challenging situation than we are.

I know, it’s a hard concept for some drama-ridden students to accept, but the world does not revolve around them. It’s fascinating when Lucy and Avery discover each other’s ‘secret’. By this time they’re friends, but simple things can lead to misunderstandings as they grapple with each other’s past. Instead of hugging it out, maybe the two just need a good mime show.

Ages 10 and up will like AfterMath in the most sublime of ways because it’s a sneaky, well-written book that they might not expect to enjoy. If you mention the fine details of the plot to them they’ll think that it’s depressing or preaching, and it’s neither of those two things. It’s a book about moving on, accepting loss, discovering new things, and finding yourself, plus a handful of really great math puns.

AfterMath is by Emily Barth Isler and available on Carolrhoda Books, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group.

There are affiliate links in this post.