Lucy wants to escape from the town that only thought of her as the girl whose brother died. She believes she will get that fresh start when her family moves to a new town. However, when she learns that the community experienced a school shooting years before she arrived, she is stuck in a town that won't quit processing their grief. Lucy doesn't want to be the girl who suffered tragedy in the new school, so she reinvents herself. As she begins to make friends her lies will be the undoing of her ability to move on.

Lucy's life is complicated by the fact that she lives in the house of one of the shooting victims. Her room is the dead girl's room and she is curious and also feels like she has no one to turn to for answers. Lucy uses math as a way of coping and as the story progresses the reader sees Lucy realize how math has helped her get through the hard times in her life.

The narration was well done in this middle-grade novel. The topics are heavy and the book, while it handles the topic of death sensitively, this book is not for all readers. This was an engaging and at times melancholy read, but the author brings hope into dark situations, and for some kids who need this message After Math is the perfect book to begin healing.

Shenice is a girl with a family baseball legacy. Now it has caused a huge weight on her young shoulders. The weight involves a scandal surrounding her great-grandfather. She feels it’s her job to try and clear his name all the while trying to win a historic title as the captain of her softball team.

Twelve-year-old Shenice “Lightning” Lockwood has baseball in her blood and plans to lead her all-Black fast-pitch softball team (a first in the Dixie Youth Softball Association), the Fulton Firebirds, to victory at the district championship. In the attempt to cheer his daughter after a disappointing loss, her father shows her memorabilia from her family’s baseball lineage. This event prompts him to take Shenice to visit her great-uncle Jack. He tells her the story of her great-grandfather’s rise from the Negro Leagues to the majors and how racial prejudice played a part in his being framed for the theft of a famous baseball glove. Here is where Shenice feels compelled to seek answers.

This middle-grade novel discusses race at a level readers will understand and many can relate. The story is filled with images of positive Black girls without downplaying the historical realities of her family playing baseball in the American South. And how sadly enough it still affects her in the present as she attempts to make history herself.

Notably, her coach is a White woman in a same-gender marriage.
The mystery is compelling but for a non spirts follower, at times, I was ready to get through the softball stuff to get more into the intrigue.

All in all, Fast Pitch is quite an adventure.

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

***AUDIO BOOK VERSION***
Trigger warning: Gun violence, terminal illness, PTSD, OCD.
After/Math is a beautifully narrated and sensitively written story about a young girl who has moved to a new house and new school after her brother died of a heart problem. The child who lived in the house she's moved into also died as a victim of a school shooting at the new school she's started to attend.
The characters were realistic and so was the setting of the story.
This is definitely a book to read/listen to at some time in your life. The story certainly makes you think about all aspects to situations like this one and see it from the eyes and view point of a child too.
I recommend this book not just to children but to adults too.

A middle grade book that tackles some really raw and difficult topics like child death from congenital heart defect, school shootings, parental struggles, and switching schools. The main character is the math angle - she is a math wiz and thinks about her life in terms of math. I'd suggest parents read this before reading to or having their middle grade child read it alone. I think it's manageable, but will need to be discussed further. I do tend to take an approach of being open about everything with my children.

Ultimately, I would recommend this book. The writing is wonderful, the audio was performed well, and the characters are so real and relatable.

Complete review (in Spanish): Instagram @entre.mi.libro.y.yo

I REALLY liked this book.

I liked that it talks about grieve and duel in a very innocent way, making us readers feel the sadness but also understand the protagonist during the changes she goes through in the book.

I also liked that Lucy tries to solve her personal problems as if they were math problems, as an engineer, I could relate to that.

The way that the author narrates the book is very special, making different voices for different characters and never sounding boring or monotonous.

Thanks for this wonderful story Emily, and thanks for letting me hear it Netgalley!

First, a disclaimer: I received this audiobook in advance of publication in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own opinions. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book.

Second, content warnings: this book is written for middle graders and it deals with some pretty heavy topics. While I do not know how to include everything that might traumatize someone, I will note that death of a sibling, coping with PTSD, and school shootings are major plot points in this book and readers (or parents of readers) should be aware of this before deciding whether or not this book is the right fit.

My thoughts on this book: Holy moly! I was not prepared for this book to be such a snot bomb. I ended up listening to this book at night and bawling big, fat tears into my pillow though. Let’s be honest, when it comes to school shootings, we tend to focus on the “cause”. Conversations about preventing disasters like this are important. But we lose focus on the “effect”. Traumatized children and their families that have to pick up the pieces and move forward as if life is back to normal. This book tells THAT story. I loved Lucy and all of the characters. It is hard to say that I loved the story, but I think it is an important story and this is a book that I highly recommend.

CAWPILE Score: 66
Star Rating: 5
Pages: 272
Read on Audiobook

AfterMath is a sensitively written coming-of-age novel by Emily Barth Isler. Due out 7th Sept 2021 from Lerner Books on their Carolrhoda imprint, it's 272 pages and will be available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is such a warm and thoughtful book for middle grades and older. Despite the heavy themes of sudden violent loss, death, trauma, grief, painful family and friendship relations, and the general upheaval of adolescence, there are moments of humor and fun woven throughout. The author has a real gift with writing that engages and informs without ever being maudlin or preachy. Although it has been decades since I was Lucy's age, I think the honesty of the writing will touch most readers whatever their age.

The author's positive and supportive matter-of-fact discussion of mental health issues and support for grief and healing are vitally important. She touches on the upside-down roles of parents and the "problem free" kid in families with a seriously ill or dying sibling; and she does so in a genuine and realistic way.

I liked the character portrayals. They were believable and the author wrote them as living breathing people. They weren't perfect and the adults didn't have all the answers. I especially loved Mr. Jackson, Lucy's math teacher. He's such a positively portrayed, engaged, caring, and intelligent character. I appreciated that the author wrote inclusive, respectful, and positive portrayals of other ethnicities and backgrounds. Representation is important. It felt brave of the author to tackle the issues which she did and she did them so well.

The audiobook is narrated by the author herself and has a run time of 5 hours 7 minutes. She does a stellar job of delineating the characters' voices and keeping them distinct from one another. I had no trouble keeping them separate in my head during listening.

Five stars. Genuinely important and well written middle grade book. I would recommend it for public and school library acquisition, reading groups, and home use. The book includes study question prompts for discussions in the back of the book. Potential trigger warnings, shooting death, discussion of grief and mental health issues, death of a child.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Twelve years old Lucy's family moved to a new town for a fresh start after the loss of her five years old baby brother from a congenital heart defect. Lucy found out that her new room belonged to a dead girl her age, who died in an elementary school shooting where 27 other kids died. Lucy's new classmates were third graders when the shooting happened, and everyone of them has his/her story of surviving or loss.

The author was the narrator of this audio-book and I liked it. Both the story and the narration.

The story follows Lucy, a 12 year old girl who recently lost her brother to an illness, and moved to a town where a school shooting happened 4 years ago. Lucy is struggling to make friends as she learns about the pain other kids experienced while dealing with her own. She loves math and thinks in equations most of the time.

I love how the story represented the aftermath of a mass shooting. It is a very heavy subject and seeing young children having to confront their feelings about it is even harder. The book had many great messages, like how grief is different for everyone, you can't compare a loss to another, it is important to be able to talk to someone, and therapy isn't a bad word.

The author narrated the audiobook and it was so good! I even cried a bit.

I do want to say that the pauses between characters are very long - each time I thought something happened to my phone. It should be fixed before the audiobook becomes available to the public.

Aftermath follows the middle schoolers Lucy whose family moves after her younger brother dies from a heart defect. The students are experiencing the after affects of a school shooting. This book is beautifully written and the author did an amazing job handling the to tough subjects

This book was heartfelt and thought provoking. After the death of her younger brother from a congenital heart defect, Lucy's family moves to a new town for a "fresh start" where she attends a new school. This is a difficult transition for her after her family's loss and their inability to communicate about their grief. Additionally, she discovers the school was the site of a school shooting several years before so the students in her grade are the survivors of that tragedy. Lucy's character is so well written and authentic. She enjoys math and uses the logic to make sense of her life. There are funny math jokes and puns through out that are enjoyable and add a sense of lightness to the book. This was such a beautiful story of these kids and what they went through, including the sister of the shooter. I felt the author portrayed their feelings and told about what happened with such care and empathy. This book was incredible. Highly recommend - Five Stars

This book is amazing. Lucy is a cinnamon bun. She's going through a series of losses (her brother, her connection with her parents, moving city, changing schools, and even her understanding of math), and she manages to deal with it with a high level of maturity for her age. She's forced to grow up faster than other kids her age, and yet, despite that, still has an innocence and purity resembling a child's. Her whole process while adapting to these new situations is beautiful to see, the way she articulates her emotions and help her parents and classmates to deal with their losses as well. It's a beautiful story, very well written, and you can feel Lucy's turmoils and moments of happiness alongside her.

Holly fuck. Sorry but…. Okay. First of all, thank you Net Galley for the audio arc of the book. I, for once, have read the summary. But I was like “come on it’s a middle-grade book. It won’t be that hard”. Ah. The joke’s on me. This book made me cry in the street and it was hard not crying on the bus. It’s an emotional m, hard and powerful book. And yet it’s hopeful. It talks about grief, family, and friendship. It also talks about mental health and the fact that nobody should be ashamed of going to therapy.
Anyway, started august with this book, and honestly. I don't know if I’ll like any book more this month.
TW: PTSD, School shooting, Greif, Death of a child, Illness

I love this book. How this book shows everyone's coping mechanism and how they live their daily life with their wounds. I deeply can relate to Lucy. She just reminds me of my school days me. It's straightforward and it's an amazing story for everyone (not only kids or young adults) because everyone has their own wounds and trauma. I love how the author has successfully brought Lucy characters along with math facts and jokes inside the story. It's a smart and heartwarming story. I never read a book like this before.

Once in a while, I came across a gem like this and I was reminded of why I loved reading so much.

This middle grade book was a delight. Lucy, our main protagonist, had to move to a new town because her parents were trying to ‘escape’ the death of Lucy’s younger brother, their beloved son. Unfortunately, the new town they moved to had a school shooting a few years beforehand, which forever changed the entire town’s demeanour towards life in general. Suddenly, the death of a brother due to illness couldn’t compare to the mass grief of mass death.

How would you process your grief when it seemed small in comparison, but still felt larger than life individually?

Was this why Lucy loved Math so much? Because 2+2 would always be 4 and there was no room for uncertainty?

I couldn’t believe this was a middle grade book. There was so much to unpack - it made me think, it made me feel. This book truly deserved more hype!

"A square has four equal sides and four equal angles, if one side is gone is it still a square?
A family has four members if one member is gone is it still a family"

The story depicts grief in a very well and sensitive manner. It covers a lot of hard hitting topics like terminal illness, PTSD and gun violence in very well manner. A class of students have witnessed a mass shooting at their school. The way they cope with their grief and trauma is commendable.

It also shows that every one around you is suffering with something and it is always a good idea to be kind.

This book is brilliantly written and narrated. It is emotionally heavy with a sibling’s death and a school shooting. These are some hard topics to write about especially for kids and the author has done a wonderful job. I’m not sure how suitable it is for the middle graders. I absolutely loved the part about Lucy being a math geek and the way title included her love for math. Really clever. The characters felt very real with all that they were going through. This book is heartbreaking for an adult so I’m not sure about children reading but I think it’ll help children understand trauma and loss.
I love listening to audiobooks while I read the eBook or physical copy so I requested for the audiobook as well. It is narrated by the author herself. The narration is very clear which is what I expect in any audiobook. I’ll definitely recommend the audiobook.

In a Nutshell: What a brilliant book this is! And yet, it leaves me with a niggling doubt about whether its content is suitable for children.

Story:
Twelve year old Lucy’s family is struggling with the death of her younger brother from a congenital heart defect. In an attempt to make a fresh start, the family shifts to a different town. But Lucy finds that her new classmates are dealing with a different tragedy of their own – they are the survivors from a school shooting that happened in their class 4 years back.
The book depicts the impact of tragedy on these young lives, with Lucy struggling to fit in a class full of children dealing with PTSD in different ways, and her own tragedy making her a misfit in her new social circle. All Lucy has as a source of comfort is her love for math, which seems to be reliable and definite, unlike most other things in her life. Soon, Lucy learns that everyone can deal with grief in different ways, and kindness is a powerful tool to overcome most obstacles.

What I loved:
• Lucy being a math geek! I adored the way she thought in Math and tried to put everything around her in terms of math. The intelligent manner in which the author has interwoven mathematics in the story is worth appreciating. The geek in me enjoyed all these math references. (Including the math riddles and the fact that every chapter began with an interesting math-related fact that also connected to the story. Brilliant!)

• The first person perspective of Lucy: This writing style brought us that much closer to her insecurities, her confusion, her love for maths, and her wish to fit in.

• The title: What a clever name for this book! It is a perfect fit for the story in multiple ways. Other than the obvious ‘math’ reference to indicate Lucy’s love for the subject, it also hints at the aftermath of the two tragedies: the death of Lucy’s brother and the school shooting.

• The characters: Most of the main characters are depicted in a very realistic manner and you feel for them as they go through their lives in the ‘aftermath’ of their respective traumas. The author doesn’t seek to exaggerate or devalue any experience but stays true to how actual people might behave under similar circumstances in real life. I especially want to mention two special characters here: Avery, whose step-brother was responsible for the shooting, and Mr. Jackson, the teacher who seems to be modelled on Mr. Brown from Wonder. On the whole, the character development in the book is fabulous.

• The issues it raises: This one book has the potential for so many important discussions we need to have with children: the importance of open and frequent communication, the willingness to opt for therapy if needed, the necessity of understanding mental health struggles (both for yourself and for others), gun control and personal safety requirements. It is a goldmine of discussion opportunities, and not just for children. I’m sure school shootings rank as one of the worst nightmares for a parent, and it preys on their feeling of helplessness in dealing with such situations. The book will be a worthwhile, albeit traumatic read for parents too.


What I am unsure about: (Note that I didn’t say ‘dislike’)
Is this a book I would want middle graders to read? I honestly don’t know. The content is quite dark. With a sibling death, parental problems dealing with the tragedy, and a school shooting too, the book is really heavy on the emotional scale and may not be the right fit for most typical middle graders. At the same time, these are events that actually happen, and awareness is always helpful. The fact is, this book could help children understand trauma or it will create trauma. So I’m a bit divided in my feelings here. While the topics are handled with a lot of sensitivity, I still feel that it would be better to target the YA audience and above as potential readers for this story. But yes, I would consider it an impactful read for every adult.

Minor complaint: I do not particularly like romance being included in a children’s book, even if it is aimed at middle-graders. While the crush-on-a-classmate arc is used properly by the author as a necessary plot point for one crucial scene, and she also includes one character saying that this is not the right age for such thoughts, (Thank you for writing that, dear author!), the fact still is that I do not like to read about crushes in a children’s book.

The audiobook is narrated by the author herself and she does a great job. I enjoyed her performance more than I had expected. It’s a pretty short audiobook at just a little over 5 hours.

Recommended to all adults (young and not so young), and only to the most mature middle-graders.

4.5 stars, rounding up.

Thank you, NetGalley and Lerner Audiobooks, for the audio ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

AfterMath is a well-written book on grief in its many forms. A young girl, Lucy, and her parents move to Virginia from Maryland after her younger brother dies from a rare heart disease. Her parents justify the move as an easier commute for them, but Lucy, who loses her friends, believes it is an attempt to escape pain. They are trying their best to heal from the loss of their child.

Lucy ends up in a middle school where most of the students are survivors of a grade school mass killing. It is a tough adjustment all around. I found it very easy to relate to Lucy’s need to protect herself and her heart. More importantly, my middle school granddaughter easily put herself in Lucy’s shoes too. While we didn’t experience the loss of a sibling, we have experienced devastating loss of close family members.

AfterMath flows at a steady pace that grows as Lucy faces some challenges and a betrayal. Lucy’s inner dialogue and use of math principles to explain her struggle, is effective in putting the reader in Lucy’s head. Her pain and her parents’ attitudes are heartbreaking at times.

"A square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that is has four equal sides and four equal angles. What happens when one side is gone? Is it still a square? No. If a family has four members, and one is gone, are we still a family?"

This an excellent book for teens and adults. My granddaughter and I listened to the story with the e-book to read along. The audio book is performed by the author, Emily Barth Isler. She does an excellent job performing a story that must be near and dear to her heart. There are some political messages, but they are subtle. I'm not a fan of authors who hit the reader over the head with their political beliefs, whether I agree with them or not.

AfterMath is an excellent book to read and/or listen if you or your family has experienced loss or to help initiate discussions about personal loss with family members. I recommend the book for teens and adults alike.
If you are an audiobook fan, this is a must listen.

We both rate it 5 Stars.

AfterMath is the story Lucy, whose family relocates to Virginia after her younger brother's death. Lucy's new classmates are the survivors of a school shooting that occurred several years before and are still dealing with the lasting effects of that horrific tragedy. The way the author portrayed the grief and struggles of the major characters' families felt very realistic. This book examines the effects of tragedy in a unique way that should be relatable for middle school readers.

I really enjoyed the audiobook narration, which is done by the author. Moving back and forth between the ebook and audio felt seamless. The author's voice kept me immersed in the world of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lerner Digital for access to an advance listener copy of AfterMath.