Review: Aftermath
Aftermath by Emily Barth Isler Carolrhoda (imprint of Lerner Publishing Group) Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Heidi Rabinowitz Aftermath joins other modern explorations of grief for young people such as Sorry for Your Loss by Joanne Levy, All Three Stooges by Erica Perl, and Dancing at the Pity Party by Tyler Feder. This book, uniquely, contemplates not only personal loss but communal loss. Middle schooler Lucy's little brother Theo has recently died from a heart defect, and the family's attempt at a fresh start in a new town means that Lucy loses her school and her friends along with her home. Even worse, the fictional DC-area town to which they move is deeply scarred by a school shooting that happened four years ago. Lucy feels that her own grief can't compete with that of her new schoolmates, but finally starts to heal through an after school mime class which encourages her to express her feelings, through befriending the unfairly ostracized sister of the dea