Staff Pick
Great fiction helps kids process things even adults struggle to work through. This book shrunk me into smaller shoes and walked me through two middle schoolers’ unspeakable loss, in a story that will remain all too real until this country does something about our shamefully unaddressed epidemic of gun violence. Cora’s sister Mabel was killed in a school shooting by Quinn’s brother, Parker, who also took his own life. Before, Cora and Quinn were best friends; now, Cora only speaks to Quinn about Quinn’s plan to make a time machine to save their siblings from the person Parker became. Recommended By Madeline S., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
An extraordinary new novel from Jasmine Warga, Newbery Honor-winning author of Other Words for Home, about loss and healing — and how friendship can be magical.
Cora hasn't spoken to her best friend, Quinn, in a year.
Despite living next door to each other, they exist in separate worlds of grief. Cora is still grappling with the death of her beloved sister in a school shooting, and Quinn is carrying the guilt of what her brother did.
On the day of Cora's twelfth birthday, Quinn leaves a box on her doorstep with a note. She has decided that the only way to fix things is to go back in time to the moment before her brother changed all their lives forever — and stop him.
In spite of herself, Cora wants to believe. And so the two former friends begin working together to open a wormhole in the fabric of the universe. But as they attempt to unravel the mysteries of time travel to save their siblings, they learn that the magic of their friendship may actually be the key to saving themselves.
The Shape of Thunder is a deeply moving story, told with exceptional grace, about friendship and loss — and how believing in impossible things can help us heal.
Review
"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." Jason Reynolds, award-winning, bestselling author of Ghost and Long Way Down
Review
"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." Aisha Saeed, New York Times bestselling author of Amal Unbound
Review
"Warga portrays with extraordinary talent the transformation of a family's life before and after the war began in Syria... Her free-verse narration cuts straight to the bone... [and] confront[s] the difficult realities of being Muslim and Arab in the U.S. Poetic, immersive, hopeful." Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
About the Author
Jasmine Warga's debut middle grade book, Other Words for Home, is a Newbery Honor Book. She is the author of the novels for teens My Heart and Other Black Holes, which has been translated into over twenty languages, and Here We Are Now. She lives and writes in Cincinnati, Ohio. You can visit Jasmine online at www.jasminewarga.com.