Every Story Ever Told

by Ami Polonsky

Overview

In this life-affirming novel of trauma and recovery, a girl searches for a path forward after being forced to confront the reality of gun violence, for fans of Dusti Bowling and Jasmine Warga.
 
Stevie Jane Cohen-Kaplan’s sheltered suburban life is shattered by a mass shooting at a festival in her town. In the aftermath, her brain feels broken. She can’t bear to visit her mom, recovering in the hospital under Stevie’s dad’s watchful eye, or to be pent up in her grandparents’ nearby Manhattan apartment.
 
To escape the apartment and her own thoughts, Stevie starts adventuring around New York City with her best friend, Avi, and a new therapy dog (in training). The trio starts chasing stories—about a neighbor’s life after the Holocaust, Stevie’s grandfathers who died of AIDS long before she was born, and even about her own mom’s activist upbringing. These stories may not bring Stevie all the way back to “normal,” but can they help her find a new version of herself?
 
Written with compassion and care, Every Story Ever Told places readers at the center of their own story and within a larger human tapestry, as one girl tries to make sense of the unthinkable.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316570978
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	10/29/2024
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	682,393
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.88(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Ami Polonsky is a middle school teacher, mother, and author, among other things. She is the author of World Made of Glass, Gracefully Grayson, and Threads, and invites you to visit her at www.amipolonsky.com
 

Editorial Reviews

Ami Polonsky's Every Story Ever Told is a lyrically written, moving story about family, friendship, and the desperate need to tell our stories to a broken world. Some stories may feel too painful to speak out loud, but those can end up being the most important ones we'll ever tell and the most important for others to hear. Even when we can't yet see the ending, even when we only have beginning or a middle, we give others the opportunity to add to our story and finish it. And those stories, written across generations, really can make the world a better place.” —Dusti Bowling, bestselling author of The Canyon’s Edge and Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus

* “Deeply moving … A sensitive and powerful look at grief with the uplifting reminder that even with all the bad crowded in, there is still room for joy and happiness. Highly recommended.” —School Library Journal, starred review

“A buoyant tale of hope…A poignant and powerful tale of resilience.”—Kirkus Reviews

Praise for World Made of Glass
A Kirkus Best Children's Book of the Year
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A CCBC Best Book of the Year 
A Chicago Public Library Best of the Year
A Horn Book​ Fanfare Pick

* “The book shows a girl focusing her rage and pain into love…. Simultaneously sad and life affirming; a poetry-filled, inspiring call to activism.” —Kirkus, starred review

* "Foregrounding believable, dynamic characters [this novel shows] both the cost of inaction and fear around the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the power of activism to bring change and build community." —Publishers Weekly, starred review

* “This is the best kind of family story, filled with love and, yes, loss, but most importantly with caring. The narrative is lyrical and heartfelt, and young people will be inspired to see Iris transcend her grief, use her voice, and find a way to make a difference.” –The Horn Book, starred review

* “Ami Polonsky has crafted a beautiful story which speaks of courage, family, love, anger, discrimination, ignorance, and hope.… Polonsky has delivered a powerful message to us all that should not be passed up.” —School Library Connection, starred review

* “Beautifully written…with its sensitive portrayal of loss, and its carefully researched depiction of a devastating time in American history, this lyrical novel is highly recommended.” —School Library Journal, starred review

“Impeccably written and emotionally powerful.”—BCCB

“A valuable education in AIDS history and emotional wellness.”—Booklist

From the Publisher

★ 08/01/2024

Gr 5 Up—In the wake of tragedy, a middle schooler wonders how she will ever be herself again. Just after Stevie, 13, and her parents arrive at an event in their New Jersey town, a gunman opens fire, killing five and injuring many others, including Stevie's mother. While her mother remains in a medically induced coma in Manhattan with Stevie's father at her side, Stevie is cared for by her grandparents; her best friend, Avi, a transgender boy; Raisin, a new rescue dog providing emotional support; and Evelyn, her neighbor from home who is a Holocaust survivor. Stevie grapples with physical and psychological reactions to the stress and trauma, including horrible, misplaced guilt. While she struggles to articulate what she feels and needs through the fog of panic, anxiety, and PTSD, Stevie is surrounded by tenderness and support. Though life feels fragile and survival is complicated, Stevie finds strength in the connections to others who have endured violence, loss, and persecution. The young girl's fear and guilt are almost unbearable to read, but Polonsky's deft prose and vibrant cast of characters help Stevie, and readers, understand her feelings and work toward healing. Deeply moving, this companion to World Made of Glass, which tells the story of Stevie's mother as a youth, can be read as a standalone. Includes an author's note about trauma and gun violence. VERDICT A sensitive and powerful look at grief with the uplifting reminder that even with all the bad crowded in, there is still room for joy and happiness. Highly recommended.—Amanda MacGregor

School Library Journal

2024-08-03
A seventh grade gun violence survivor reckons with PTSD in this carefully rendered story about the fragility and power of human connection.

Questions of “what if” cascade into a burden that feels too heavy for 13-year-old Stevie Jane Cohen-Kaplan, whose brain feels “broken” in the aftermath of a tragedy. A shooting at a summer festival in her New Jersey town has left her mom hospitalized. Given the large local Jewish population, was this a hate crime? Trapped in her grandparents’ Manhattan apartment and unprepared to visit her mother, who’s unconscious, Stevie Jane struggles to find coping mechanisms and relies on distractions to keep herself going. Seeking respite, she relies on Raisin, her emotional-support-dog-in-training, and her best friend, Avi. The friends begin piecing together the stories of those around Stevie Jane, from a neighbor’s life after surviving the Holocaust, to episodes in her grandfather’s life and her own mother’s activist history. Each revelation leads them around the city, contributing to Stevie Jane’s budding confidence; over time, she finds more and more pieces of her mother’s past. Centering on a Jewish family, the story hints at Manhattan’s diversity through some descriptions of minor characters. The realistic portrayal of trauma is handled with deft sensitivity, from physical symptoms to therapeutic intervention. Interspersed poems add texture and vibrancy, weaving the delicate threads of the characters’ lives into a buoyant tale of hope.

A poignant and powerful tale of resilience. (content warning, author’s note)(Fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews