Every Moment After

February 15, 2019
In the still-rippling effects of a years-ago tragedy, the survivors cope with the burden of moving on.When Cole and Matt were in first grade, a shooter killed 17 of their classmates and their principal. Yet life went on for those in the New Jersey suburb, and now they approach the summer after high school graduation. Cole, in the wake of his father's death, is determined to finally overcome his awkwardness and connect with his longtime crush--although he'll have to make some drug deals for his romantic master plan to get off the ground. Matt struggles with the guilt of having been at home sick during the shooting due to his diabetes and makes questionable health choices while starting a romantic relationship with a woman who is also irrevocably connected to that pivotal day. The default-white cast includes a classmate who was shot and left partially paralyzed and the autistic twin brother of their deceased friend; both are secondary characters with enough screen time to show their struggles but are barely developed beyond that and feel like idealized martyrs. The town's diner--wallpapered with failed gun control bills--attests to the horrible commonplaceness of such tragedies. This debut avoids sensationalism, instead focusing on the boys' attempts to make sense of the changes in their world while grappling with the things that never change.A sober, introspective coming-of-age tale overshadowed by the all-too-real effects of a mass shooting. (Fiction. 16-adult)

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June 14, 2019

Gr 7-10-Cole and Matt are two of the few survivors of a classroom shooting in first grade. Their story, told in alternating chapters, begins as they are setting up for graduation and placing 12 empty chairs in memory of those who were lost. Matt comes from a wealthy family and after graduation will be attending a university on a baseball scholarship. He lives with the guilt of being absent on that one dreadful day because he was home learning how to manage his new diagnosis of diabetes, and he wonders if he would have survived if he had been at school. As a result, he pushes the limits of his glucose levels. Cole was the poster child for the media frenzy because of an infamous photograph of him being carried out of school by a police officer. In addition to his survivor guilt, Cole is from a poor family that's trying to recover from recently losing his dad to cancer. Cole is also the friend who often saves Matt from his health-threatening situations by either calling paramedics or Matt's overbearing mother. The boys narrate different perspectives on the same incident and revisit all of the anniversaries, memorials, and interactions with survivors from that day. This novel is about moving forward and living in spite of one's past trauma. VERDICT Recommended for readers of Joelle Charbonneau's Time Bomb, Shaun David Hutchinson's Violent Ends, and Marieke Nijkamp's This is Where it Ends.-Jessica Lorentz Smith, Bend Senior High School, OR

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March 15, 2019
Grades 9-12 Eleven years after a gunman turned an assault rifle on a first-grade classroom, the graduating class who lost 17 of their own prepares to go their separate ways. Cole is deferring freshman year to help his mother through her grief and depression after his father's death. Worse than being left behind by his peers is saying goodbye to the girl he secretly loves. His best friend, Matt, is determined to help Cole pull off the romantic gesture of a lifetime. A privileged star athlete who missed school the day of the shooting, Matt tries to absolve his survivor guilt by being there for his classmates who suffered the most: Chris, who lost the use of his legs, and Paul, a boy with autism who lost his identical twin. As Cole and Matt struggle under the heavy weight of the futures their classmates will never see, their friendship is tested like never before. This debut powerfully captures the strong bonds of male friendship and the deep aftershocks of trauma. A solid pick for John Green fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)