This is a compact book with some very difficult topics. Mental health is one of them and mass shootings too. It sometimes got hard to read Lucy's story but she demands to be heard. And I loved her healing process and how friendships evolved and how observing Lucy is. And in the same time I have to keep reminding myself that She is just a kid.
So yeah, it was a very good book. I lived it in audio. #NetGalley #AfterMath

Such a wonderful book! The story follows Lucy, a twelve year old girl, that just lost her brother to a rare heart defect and her family decides to move out of state to a town where the school was the site of a school shooting and the kids there are still going through the pain and trauma. Lucy's love of math helps her deal with her grief so when her new math teacher asks her to join his new Mime class, she does. No spoilers and I highly recommend it. Thanks to #netgalley for the advanced reader copy. I loved it.

It's really hard to place your self in someone else's shoes, especially if this someone is your child and is also going through the same situation that you are. Sometimes we as adults forget how perceptive kids can be.

Note: This audiobook is great, I believe it should be rated 5/5, but I disagree with the writer when she focus on the "effect" and not the "cause", being the main issue such an important matter. You might have another point of view but you will have to read/listen it first. Hope you do! 😉

Such a hard subject, handled so beautifully by this author. What could have been a maudlin or sappy story instead became a wonderful narrative about growth, strength, family, and friendship.
The title is a play on the words - which I love. Not only is the Lucy surviving the "aftermath" of her brother's death, but she is a "math nerd" who sees the world through "math-tinted lenses." The unique math perspective was wonderfully done and really added a unique character to Lucy.
As a teacher this book really hit home - I've lost many students to gun violence and was a bit fearful that I wouldn't be able to get through this story. My worry grew at the beginning of the novel when death was spoken about with such cold matter-of-factness. But... that was the point. I was SUPPOSED to feel uncomfortable. I was SUPPOSED to understand the struggle of this little girl who was not only going through one of the worst imaginable traumas, but was then put in the position where her grief and suffering was being compared and contrasted with another great tragedy. Is one loss greater than another?
I don't want to spoil the plot or resolution, but there's no doubt that this brought all the "feels" without every making me depressed - I felt empathy, sympathy, grief, and.. hope.
And, on top of all that - I LOVE Lucy's math brain. The fact that she is smart and strong and looked at the world through math-tinted lenses is remarkable. I chuckled at the math jokes, cheered at the mime storyline, and crossed my fingers that she would get the hand-holding that she so craved.
Isler created a PERFECTLY age-appropriate voice for her heroine, and anyone who has gone through middle school will be able to relate.
Lucy's incredible efforts of friendship for the horribly treated Avery was a stroke of genius. Knowing that Lucy's heart was so big -despite her own losses - makes her even more heroic.
I will definitely get a copy of this for my class library, and will encourage students to read it.
One suggestion - although I understand the author wanting to be the voice for this book herself, perhaps a professional could offer a more nuanced and less obvious reading. Some of the voice work was distracting and my experience as a listener was diminished.