The Shape of Thunder

March 15, 2021
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)

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March 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.

April 1, 2021
Grades 5-8 Gun violence isn't a topic that has made its way into many middle-grade novels, though it is a reality that too many American children have had to face, if not directly then nonetheless intrusively when enduring lockdown drills. Warga, in her first book since her Newbery Honor-winning Other Words for Home (2018), wades into the trauma left by a high-school shooting. Seventh graders Cora Hamed and Quinn McCauley had been best friends since they were toddlers, but they haven't spoken since Cora's sister, Mabel, died. Quinn understands--it's her brother Parker's fault that Mabel's gone--but Quinn has an idea that can fix everything: time travel. The catch is she and Cora will have to work together to make it happen. Chapters alternate between Quinn and Cora's perspectives, gradually revealing the details of what happened the day of the shooting, as well as the complex and messy emotional process of grieving in a healthy way. Warga also touches upon hate crimes, white nationalism, and Cora's struggles with her Lebanese American identity. This will spark meaningful discussions.

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Starred review from June 1, 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

Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2021
A dual-perspective novel follows two girls in the aftermath of a school shooting. Almost a year after her older sister was killed in that shooting by a classmate, twelve-year-old Cora still struggles to make sense of life without her. Cora also misses her now estranged best friend Quinn, whose brother, also dead, was the shooter. In alternating chapters, both girls deal with processing their grief and defining their roles at school and at home. Academically focused Cora tries to connect with her Quiz Bowl teammates and her Lebanese heritage, while Quinn latches on to the idea of traveling back in time to prevent the shooting from happening. Quinn persuades Cora to join her in trying to create a wormhole that will allow them to time-travel, but Cora continues keeping her distance until a minor crisis leads them to reconnect and gives both girls the chance to explain to their families what they need in order to make peace with their losses. Warga (Newbery honoree for Other Words for Home, rev. 7/19) skillfully develops unique voices for her narrators, and the novel's alternating-perspective structure works well. Emotions run high throughout the book without weighing down the plot, and the portrayal of middle-school life is utterly authentic. Warga tells a quiet story despite the dramatic events that led up to it, presenting a sad but not overwhelming narrative. Sarah Rettger

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2021
A dual-perspective novel follows two girls in the aftermath of a school shooting. Almost a year after her older sister was killed in that shooting by a classmate, twelve-year-old Cora still struggles to make sense of life without her. Cora also misses her now estranged best friend Quinn, whose brother, also dead, was the shooter. In alternating chapters, both girls deal with processing their grief and defining their roles at school and at home. Academically focused Cora tries to connect with her Quiz Bowl teammates and her Lebanese heritage, while Quinn latches on to the idea of traveling back in time to prevent the shooting from happening. Quinn persuades Cora to join her in trying to create a wormhole that will allow them to time-travel, but Cora continues keeping her distance until a minor crisis leads them to reconnect and gives both girls the chance to explain to their families what they need in order to make peace with their losses. Warga (Newbery honoree for Other Words for Home, rev. 7/19) skillfully develops unique voices for her narrators, and the novel's alternating-perspective structure works well. Emotions run high throughout the book without weighing down the plot, and the portrayal of middle-school life is utterly authentic. Warga tells a quiet story despite the dramatic events that led up to it, presenting a sad but not overwhelming narrative.

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)