03/29/2021

The longtime friendship of two 12-year-olds—Cora Hamed, who is of Lebanese descent, and Quinn McCauley, who is white—is shattered when Quinn’s older brother, having become immersed in white supremacy and misogyny, carries out a school shooting that results in his death and that of Cora’s older sister. Though the friends have been close since age two, Cora’s grief, explored in therapy, is layered with anger at Quinn over the events. Quinn, meanwhile, is knotted with guilt over her perceived failure to stop her sibling, conveyed through letters she writes to him. When Quinn, an artist who sometimes stutters, starts researching the possibilities of time travel for changing past occurrences, she clutches onto it as a way to “fix everything” and persuades science-minded Cora to join her. Short chapters alternate the girls’ voices, tracing each one’s struggles to accept her loss alongside the slow, one-step-forward, two-steps-back rebuilding of their bond. The story builds steadily toward a moving conclusion; Warga’s (Other Words for Home) lyrical language and credible rendering of both middle school life and of the tensions of two families coping differently with personal devastation make for a perceptive, sensitively told novel about the effects of gun violence. Ages 8–12. (May)

With taut pacing, nuanced characters, and compassionate depictions of grief and trauma, Warga’s novel is both timely and transcendent; a must-purchase for all collections.” — School Library Journal (starred review)

“The story builds steadily toward a moving conclusion; Warga’s lyrical language and credible rendering of both middle school life and of the tensions of two families coping differently with personal devastation make for a perceptive, sensitively told novel about the effects of gun violence.” — Publishers Weekly

“[Cora and Quinn] are well developed, and Warga skillfully handles both their delicate, emotional friendship and larger subjects of grief and gun violence. Powerful and emotionally complex.” — Kirkus Reviews

“This will spark meaningful discussions.”  — ALA Booklist

“Warga skillfully develops unique voices for her narrators, and the novel’s alternating-perspective structure works well. Emotions run high throughout the book without dragging down the plot, and the portrayal of middle-school life is utterly authentic.” — Horn Book Magazine

“Warga limns a tale that downplays sensationalism while acknowledging the deep fear that many readers may carry regarding school shootings.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“A beautiful story about the love that is possible even when the worst has already happened.” — Rebecca Stead, Newbery Medalist 

Warga limns a tale that downplays sensationalism while acknowledging the deep fear that many readers may carry regarding school shootings.

A beautiful story about the love that is possible even when the worst has already happened.

This will spark meaningful discussions.” 

Warga skillfully develops unique voices for her narrators, and the novel’s alternating-perspective structure works well. Emotions run high throughout the book without dragging down the plot, and the portrayal of middle-school life is utterly authentic.

Warga limns a tale that downplays sensationalism while acknowledging the deep fear that many readers may carry regarding school shootings.

Other Words for Home is a salve for the world we live in today. It’s a hope-filled story that doesn’t pander but instead peels back layers of culture and identity, fear and prejudice, exile and belonging, all wrapped around a young Syrian girl—Jude. Checked with equal parts fear and moxie, Jude is a heart trying to figure out how to beat outside the body. I ached for, but simultaneously found that though our stories are different, I am her. This is a necessary story. We’re lucky to have it in the world.”

Warga’s middle-grade debut puts its hands around your heart and holds it, ever so gently, so that you’re aware of your own fragility and resilience: just as Jude is while her life changes drastically… Other Words for Home should find its way into every middle-grade reader’s hands.”

Through Jude’s eyes readers see firsthand what it is to leave behind one’s beloved home and family as many refugees do every single day. Young readers will laugh with Jude, cry with her, and root for her every step of the way. A beautiful, powerful, and necessary book for all readers.”

Convincing and authentic, infused with thoughtfulness, humor, determination, and hope…. A realistic portrait of the strength it takes to move to a new country, as well as of the complicated dynamics between first- and second-generation immigrants.”

Warga situates her verse novel at a sweet spot for middle-graders…the complications of assessing whether Jude is as lucky as everyone makes her out to be ring poignantly true, and when Jude takes her place on the school stage, Warga’s audience will surely applaud.”

Young people will identify with Cora and Quinn’s need to fix the big problems of the world with both science and a bit of magic. Through these two girl’s emotional journeys after a violent shooting, readers will realize the importance of speaking up about hard things. An homage to Katherine Patterson’s Bridge to Terabithia, Jasmine Warga’s The Shape of Thunder is an important and gorgeously written classic in its own right.

Brimming with hope in the midst of a tragic loss, Jasmine Warga's The Shape of Thunder is a fierce and brilliant reminder of the healing power of friendship. Intimate, heartbreaking, and gut- wrenchingly honest, Jasmine Warga continually solidifies why she is one of the best middle grade writers around - and why Cora and Quinn's story will resonate especially with anyone who has lost a loved one. I am wholeheartedly in love with this book.

The Shape of Thunder is a powerful and necessary story for our times, and it will leave no reader unchanged.

★ 06/01/2021

Gr 4–8—Twelve-year-old Cora's older sister, Mabel, was killed in a school shooting; Cora's best friend Quinn's older brother was the shooter. Told in alternating perspectives, this novel chronicles Cora and Quinn's desperate attempt to unlock the secret of time travel and undo the event that shattered their friendship. The novel confronts readers with devastating questions about school shootings, access to firearms, Islamophobia, and the radicalization of white teenage boys via web forums. Quinn, who is white, is plagued with persistent guilt at the signs she noticed, like Parker calling her a "stupid female" and Cora's father a "nasty foreigner." Cora, whose father is a Lebanese immigrant, wants to learn more about her heritage but fears the way that being Muslim made Mabel a target. Warga's characters are full, complex figures who deal with Quiz Bowl practice and first crushes alongside therapy sessions and panic attacks during lockdown drills. This sensitive title holds space for the grief and pain of all of the characters, whether they are related to the shooter or his victims. VERDICT With taut pacing, nuanced characters, and compassionate depictions of grief and trauma, Warga's novel is both timely and transcendent; a must-purchase for all collections.—Molly Saunders, Manatee County P.L., Bradenton, FL

2021-03-03
Two best friends haven’t spoken in the year since the tragedy that upended their lives.

Cora Hamed lives with her Lebanese father and White American maternal grandmother; her mother left years earlier. She is mourning the loss of her older sister, Mabel, who died in a school shooting. Quinn McCauley, who is White, is coping with the emotional fallout of her brother Parker’s life-changing actions. While Cora’s family grieves openly and makes sure she sees a therapist regularly, Quinn’s parents fight constantly over who is to blame for what Parker did. The story unfolds in chapters that alternate between the two girls’ viewpoints; Quinn’s chapters open with movingly honest letters to Parker. On Cora’s 12th birthday, she finds a box on her front porch: Quinn believes she has discovered a way to fix everything, but she needs Cora’s help. Eventually the two begin to work together on a time-travel project, seeking a wormhole that will allow them to travel back in time and prevent the shooting. Throughout, Quinn struggles with her guilt and a secret she’s keeping while Cora struggles with her last interaction with Mabel, wondering whether she can still be friends with Quinn, and understanding the Lebanese heritage she knows relatively little about but that shapes people’s perceptions of her. Both characters are well developed, and Warga skillfully handles both their delicate, emotional friendship and larger subjects of grief and gun violence.

Powerful and emotionally complex. (author's note, resources) (Fiction. 9-13)